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CalMatters
What California voters should know on minimum wage, health tax props
By Lynn La,
15 hours ago
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The November election is less than 100 days away, and CalMatters will have the lowdown on each of the ballot’s 10 propositions . Today we’re highlighting Proposition 32 , which seeks to raise California’s minimum wage, as well as Prop. 35 , which proposes to ensure that a tax on health care plans is spent on low-income patients.
While workers in health care and fast food won major legislative victories last year to secure higher hourly wages, Prop. 32 would raise the current statewide minimum wage of $16 to $18 by January.
Labor groups say the measure will help workers with the rising cost of living , though $18 still might not be enough to eke out a comfortable living in the state. But business groups argue that businesses also struggle with inflation and increasing labor costs will force them to lay off staff, cut hours or raise prices.
Prop. 35 would require tax revenue that the state receives from managed health care insurance plans be spent on care for Medi-Cal patients. Because Medi-Cal, the state-run health insurance program for low-income residents, is funded with both state and federal money, California can use that tax money to request matching federal dollars and help reduce the budget gap. With the state facing a $56 billion shortfall over the next two years, that’s exactly what Gov. Gavin Newsom did this year .
Prop. 35 would instead lock in that money — which is expected to be $35 billion over the next four years — for Medi-Cal and its services, including primary and specialty care, emergency services, family planning, prescription drugs and more.
Health providers, who would receive higher payments, support the measure, as well as both the California Democratic and Republican parties. No formal opposition is registered, but Newsom has raised concerns that restricting how the state can spend that tax revenue “hamstrings” future lawmakers and their ability to balance the budget.
In other election news: Republican U.S. Senate candidate Steve Garvey has agreed to participate in two statewide televised debates with Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, one hosted by ABC 7 Los Angeles and the League of Women Voters California, and the other by the Nexstar Media Group.
Schiff hasn’t confirmed, but his campaign is “in communication with both debate organizers,” said spokesperson Marisol Samayoa.
Garvey , in a statement: “I look forward to a civil and substantive discussion about our state’s future and how we can work together to solve the challenges we face.”
Donations now matched, dollar-for-dollar: As our anniversary drive comes to a close, we’re excited to enter our 10th year of advancing California together . There’s no better time to give, because thanks to one of our board members, your tax-deductible donation today will be matched dollar-for-dollar. Please give .
Other Stories You Should Know
UC leader stepping down
University of California President Michael Drake. Photo by Elena Zhukova, University of California
Still, some of the UC’s marquee commitments are so far falling short , such as closing the gap in graduation rates among students from different racial and ethnic groups by the end of the decade. UC’s intermediate goal is to have 69% of Black, Latino and Native American freshmen graduate in four years by 2025-26. The latest data, for 2022-23, has that figure at 63% .
Drake , 74, in a written statement: “It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve as president of the University of California these past several years, and I am immensely proud of what the UC community has accomplished. At every turn, I have sought to listen to those I served, to uphold our shared UC values, and to do all I could to leave this institution in better shape than it was before.”
His office wouldn’t explain why he chose now to step down.
As a system synonymous with the free speech movement of the 1960s, the UC was under intense national scrutiny for how it addressed campus protests this past academic year over the Gaza war. Despite calls for greater campus comity and $7 million to battle intolerance last November, student anguish only intensified. It culminated into overnight encampments, some that were violently attacked by outsiders, shut down by police officers who made hundreds of arrests , or both.
Four months after California raised fast food workers’ minimum wage to $20 an hour, a group of ice cream parlor owners still haven’t gotten state labor officials to explicitly say whether or not they have to comply.
The rollout of the new wage in April was met with confusion from those on the edges of the food-and-beverage world, CalMatters reported earlier this year . While it was clear that McDonald’s and other chains were covered, less obvious were numerous varieties of confectionary shops, boba vendors and ice cream parlors.
On Wednesday, Gabriela Campbell, the owner of a Handel’s franchised ice cream shop in San Diego County, urged the state’s new fast food regulatory council to say she’s exempt. She was joined by several other franchised ice cream shop owners, many of whom said they mostly employ high schoolers or college students who work a few hours a week.
Campbell told CalMatters she has not raised her wages to $20 because the state’s guidance says the law applies to “limited service restaurants,” while her store is a “snack and non-alcoholic beverages” establishment that she said is prohibited by the franchisor from selling food. And she said lawmakers’ staff told her ice cream shops aren’t part of the “legislative intent.”
But ice cream shop owners want to make sure they’re legally in the clear; guidance from the state’s Department of Industrial Relations states selling ice cream doesn’t automatically exempt a business owner from being counted as fast food.
Campbell: “We are not asking for an exemption. We’re not asking for a new law to be written … I’m hoping to get clarity.”
She was disappointed when, later in the meeting, the state appeared to punt.
Department attorney Miles Locker: “Absent new legislation or new court decisions, I don’t foresee any changes to the FAQs.”
Lawmakers earlier this year passed exemptions to the $20 wage for fast food restaurants in hotels, airports and other locations. Campbell said legislation may be her next move.
Coachella Valley’s dangerous dust
Dust from the exposed lakebed of the Salton Sea help contribute to particulate contamination in North Shore, on July 17, 2024. Photo by Zoë Meyers for CalMatters
Residents in the Coachella Valley breathe some of the country’s unhealthiest concentrations of the pollutant PM10 — tiny particles of dust that can worsen asthma and lung disease. PM10 can also cause coughing, eye irritation and asthma attacks, such as the one Sara Renteria said she experienced a few weeks ago.
Renteria , a Riverside County resident who was diagnosed with asthma as an adult: “I felt like there was a rock on my chest. And like needle pricks all over my skin.”
Though air pollution, particularly from dust, has been a problem in the Coachella Valley for decades, local leaders and residents say it’s getting worse. Besides the wind and exhaust coming from cars and trucks, noxious dust from the Salton Sea’s receding basin nearby is also part of the reason they argue pollutant levels have become so dangerous.
But some air district officials dispute that the air quality is worsening. Scott Epstein, a planning and rules manager at the South Coast Air Quality Management District, says the year-to-year data doesn’t reveal anything unusual.
Epstein: “It’s very unsatisfying for us because we want to confirm what the community is saying. But the science says things are within the realm of what we’ve seen in the past.”
CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: Gov. Newsom often denounces former President Donald Trump as a threat to democracy, but the governor has a penchant for using authoritarian tactics himself .
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