State seeks to delay $25 healthcare minimum wage to ward off budget crisis

(JUST THE NEWSs) – California Gov. Gavin Newsom is seeking to delay a healthcare worker minimum wage increase that will cost the state $4 billion this year alone as the state faces a budget crisis.

Among Newsom’s proposals to cut the deficit from $73 billion to $7 billion are tying the state’s healthcare minimum wage increases, which would hike the wage to $23 per hour this June cost the state $4 billion in just the first year, to the financial position of the state’s general fund and exempt state facilities. The state’s minimum wage is $16 per hour, which means the increase would raise base labor costs by 44%.

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“The Administration is … to add an annual 'trigger' to make the minimum wage increases subject to General Fund revenue availability, clarify the exemption for state facilities, and make other implementation clarifications,” wrote the governor in his January budget proposal.

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