The polls on raising the minimum wage in California are interesting, since our legislature just recently raised fast food wages to $20. That legislation passed the assembly by a wide margin and got exactly the 21 votes it needed in the senate with all Republicans against and Democrats in more centrist districts abstaining.
The polls on raising the minimum wage in California are interesting, since our legislature just recently raised fast food wages to $20. That legislation passed the assembly by a wide margin and got exactly the 21 votes it needed in the senate with all Republicans against and Democrats in more centrist districts abstaining.
From an economic standpoint, most wages in urban areas are already approaching the proposed $18, since employers paying less are losing workers to McDonald's.
A good friend who manages a luxury resort in OC is having trouble retaining front desk people since they are paying only $18 and do lose people to fast food. They are hiring a lot of retirees who are fine with $18 so long as they get the employee travel benefits.
The polls on this proposition and on crime seem to be showing that the legislature is quite to the left of the voters.
According to the CA Employment Development Department median hourly is $24.59 and median annual is $51,158.
Of course that varies greatly from region to region and how skilled the worker is. Wine grape harvesters who hand-pick the grapes at elite vineyards can make upwards of $100 an hour, but others are making close to minimum wage. (The days of being payed by the bushel are gone. CA now requires minimum wage and overtime for farm workers.)
My understanding is that is rarer these days too. (Though I'm certainly not an expert.) It's more common for undocumented workers to be officially on payroll with a fake SSN. Hence the argument that having undocumented workers actually helps the financial stability of entitlement programs: They pay in, but don't get paid out.
California generally elects left-wing Democrats and right-wing Republicans. Various attempts to change that, such as the top two primary and the Redistricting commission have not resulted in more moderate electeds, despite promising to do so.
I'm not sure if there's any research into what actually leads to a more moderate legislature, but I would be curious to read it if it exists. I suspect that political culture and history play a role. That certainly seems to be the case in Massachusetts, where I live.
I don’t think this comment is accurate? There actually is a pretty big moderate Democratic contingent in the legislature, and the progressive caucus here is more mainline Democratic than “left-wing.” For example, progressive caucus members wouldn’t go along with a plan for single-payer healthcare because of cost concerns.
Maybe there are a decent chunk of left-wing voters, but it’s really not reflected in our politicians, and that’s arguably why Democrats have held such a tight grip on the legislature for awhile now. It’s also part of why we haven’t seen much in the way of big, structural changes…another reason for that, frankly, is Newsom.
If you look at the graph on page 6, The CA Dems are the furthest to left of any State and the CA GOP is the furthest to the right of any State, except Texas and Oklahoma.
Though the other axis of the graph shows that CA voters are actually further left and and further right than their lawmakers! Hence your perception that legislature is moderate.
I would question the methodology being applied here. Oftentimes this is a measurement of legislation being proposed. If the legislature is only proposing moderate reforms, and the Republicans in the state are reflexively opposing them for strategic reasons, it would skew the analysis completely.
As someone who lives in the state, I can assure you that the Democratic politicians here skew moderate.
While I agree that rollcall votes can be a somewhat limited measure of ideology, (looking at bills introduced or sponsored tends to be more reliable,) "reflexively opposing [all bills] for strategic reasons" is a sign of a polarized legislature. That does not happen in Massachusetts, where I live. Even though the Republicans are in a deep minority, they work together with the majority on legislation.
The redistricting commission might have by virtue of creating more tossup districts (although this is true anywhere, and not unique to California), but the top 2 did not. I can't think of a prominent example where a super left-wing Dem and a super right-wing Repub both ran for a seat but a moderate Dem won by tacking to the middle. There are, however, examples of one party getting shut out of a general election due to the math of mutiple candidates running at once, but that has nothing to do with ideology. My prediction is that one of these days, two Republicans will sneak into a statewide office due to too many candidates running, and then voters will repeal this awful idea.
The polls on raising the minimum wage in California are interesting, since our legislature just recently raised fast food wages to $20. That legislation passed the assembly by a wide margin and got exactly the 21 votes it needed in the senate with all Republicans against and Democrats in more centrist districts abstaining.
From an economic standpoint, most wages in urban areas are already approaching the proposed $18, since employers paying less are losing workers to McDonald's.
A good friend who manages a luxury resort in OC is having trouble retaining front desk people since they are paying only $18 and do lose people to fast food. They are hiring a lot of retirees who are fine with $18 so long as they get the employee travel benefits.
The polls on this proposition and on crime seem to be showing that the legislature is quite to the left of the voters.
Just out of curiosity, what are farm workers in California earning?
According to the CA Employment Development Department median hourly is $24.59 and median annual is $51,158.
Of course that varies greatly from region to region and how skilled the worker is. Wine grape harvesters who hand-pick the grapes at elite vineyards can make upwards of $100 an hour, but others are making close to minimum wage. (The days of being payed by the bushel are gone. CA now requires minimum wage and overtime for farm workers.)
Thank you!
So no taking advantage of workers' undocumented status?
My understanding is that is rarer these days too. (Though I'm certainly not an expert.) It's more common for undocumented workers to be officially on payroll with a fake SSN. Hence the argument that having undocumented workers actually helps the financial stability of entitlement programs: They pay in, but don't get paid out.
California generally elects left-wing Democrats and right-wing Republicans. Various attempts to change that, such as the top two primary and the Redistricting commission have not resulted in more moderate electeds, despite promising to do so.
I'm not sure if there's any research into what actually leads to a more moderate legislature, but I would be curious to read it if it exists. I suspect that political culture and history play a role. That certainly seems to be the case in Massachusetts, where I live.
I don’t think this comment is accurate? There actually is a pretty big moderate Democratic contingent in the legislature, and the progressive caucus here is more mainline Democratic than “left-wing.” For example, progressive caucus members wouldn’t go along with a plan for single-payer healthcare because of cost concerns.
Maybe there are a decent chunk of left-wing voters, but it’s really not reflected in our politicians, and that’s arguably why Democrats have held such a tight grip on the legislature for awhile now. It’s also part of why we haven’t seen much in the way of big, structural changes…another reason for that, frankly, is Newsom.
Statistical measures of polarization has California quite high. For example:
https://research.bshor.com/publication/polarization_2decades/polarization_2decades.pdf
If you look at the graph on page 6, The CA Dems are the furthest to left of any State and the CA GOP is the furthest to the right of any State, except Texas and Oklahoma.
Though the other axis of the graph shows that CA voters are actually further left and and further right than their lawmakers! Hence your perception that legislature is moderate.
California legislature: Extremely polarized
California voters: Even more polarized
I would question the methodology being applied here. Oftentimes this is a measurement of legislation being proposed. If the legislature is only proposing moderate reforms, and the Republicans in the state are reflexively opposing them for strategic reasons, it would skew the analysis completely.
As someone who lives in the state, I can assure you that the Democratic politicians here skew moderate.
While I agree that rollcall votes can be a somewhat limited measure of ideology, (looking at bills introduced or sponsored tends to be more reliable,) "reflexively opposing [all bills] for strategic reasons" is a sign of a polarized legislature. That does not happen in Massachusetts, where I live. Even though the Republicans are in a deep minority, they work together with the majority on legislation.
The redistricting commission might have by virtue of creating more tossup districts (although this is true anywhere, and not unique to California), but the top 2 did not. I can't think of a prominent example where a super left-wing Dem and a super right-wing Repub both ran for a seat but a moderate Dem won by tacking to the middle. There are, however, examples of one party getting shut out of a general election due to the math of mutiple candidates running at once, but that has nothing to do with ideology. My prediction is that one of these days, two Republicans will sneak into a statewide office due to too many candidates running, and then voters will repeal this awful idea.
You are most likely correct but I am hoping the legislature will try a preemptive fix
Good progress although in hindsight, minimum wage should be much higher than what we have now in CA, let alone the rest of the U.S.