The Sacramento City Council approved a measure Tuesday that raises the city’s minimum wage to $12.50 over five years and ties it to inflation thereafter. The final vote was 6-3.
Here is the wage scale the council approved Tuesday night:
- 2017: $10.50
- 2018: $11.00
- 2019: $11.75
- 2020: $12.50
The approved proposal also makes other significant changes:
▪ More small businesses will get more time to pay the higher wages. Those with 100 employees or less won’t have to raise their wages for one year behind the schedule for larger companies. The previous plan gave businesses with fewer than 40 employees a six-month grace period.
▪ Employers will also get a bigger credit toward the higher wage for offering health care benefits, rising to as much as $2 an hour, up from $1.50.
▪ Thousands more workers will be covered. Exemptions for workers under 18 and some employees with developmental disabilities were dropped.
▪ After 2020, the minimum wage and health care credit will be adjusted to match cost of living increases, but based on an index for similar-sized Western cities, not the higher one for the San Francisco area.
*Sacramento Business Journal
*The Sacramento Bee