REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Introduce an Ordinance to Add Chapter 3.70 (Minimum Wage) to Title 3 of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code to Require the Payment of a Citywide Minimum Wage; Find that the proposed ordinance is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under CEQA Guideline Section 15061(b)(3); and Approve Budget Modification No.16.
Report
BACKGROUND
Currently, most Sunnyvale employers are governed by the State's minimum wage requirement, which is $9.00 per hour and is set to increase to $10.00 per hour on January 1, 2016. In San Jose, the current minimum wage is $10.15 per hour and may increase on January 1, 2015, based on this year's increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
At the May 20, 2014 City Council meeting, Council took three actions related to Study Issue OCM 14-01:
1. Adopted a long-term advocacy position supporting legislation to increase minimum wage and tie future increases to the CPI.
2. Directed staff to return to Council with a minimum wage ordinance (modeled after the City of San Jose's Minimum Wage Ordinance) with no exemptions for specific groups of employees and with annual increases tied to CPI.
3. Directed staff to explore options for contract and in-house enforcement of the ordinance and to return to Council with findings.
Staff has continued to monitor state legislation regarding minimum wage increases and submitted a support letter for SB 935 (De Leon), which proposes to increase the minimum wage over a three year period, and then provide for annual automatic adjustments based on the CPI. SB 935 did not garner enough votes to pass the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee, and will not be heard again this year.
Similar to the San Jose ordinance, the City of Sunnyvale's proposed ordinance (Attachment 1) adopts a local minimum wage which adjusts automatically each year based on any increase in the CPI. The ordinance requires Sunnyvale employers to pay a minimum wage of $10.30...
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