California voters in the November election will decide whether to increase the statewide minimum wage to $18 an hour.
Proposition 32 aims to gradually increase the current minimum wage depending on a company's number of employees.
By 2026, everyone in the state will make $18 per hour. If passed by voters, larger companies would be required to implement the change next year, while the rest will gradually implement it.
Every subsequent year, the wage would be adjusted to keep pace with the cost of living.
The change is personal for Joe Sanberg, a Los Angeles-based startup-investor-turned-anti-poverty-advocate who donated more than $10 million to the prop's "Yes" campaign.
"My mom raised me by herself in Southern California," he said. "We lost our home to foreclosure when I was a teenager, and my mom worked as hard as a mom could work and raise me and my brother to the best of her abilities."
If passed, nearly 2 million workers would stand to make an extra $3,000 annually, in theory, providing a significant boost to their livelihoods, according to Sanberg.
The proposal came after other minimum wage laws were changed in the state.
Last year, unions secured a $25 an hour rate for healthcare workers, and this year, fast-food workers saw a wage increase to $20 per hour. Some cities, like Berkeley and San Francisco, have already moved ahead of the state's $16 an hour minimum rate to pay more than $18 an hour.
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However, opponents of the proposition argue that it could potentially harm small businesses. According to the National Federation of Independent Businesses, 92.2% of businesses in the state are classified as small businesses and may struggle to absorb the increased costs.
"I think many times there's a feeling that this is a smack to big business, to big corporations," said John Kabateck, the state director of NFIB. "Most businesses in California are small businesses. They just don't have the ability to absorb those kinds of costs."
And with layoffs following fast-food workers wage increase, Kabateck said it's a sign.
"We have seen an increase in prices; we've seen more than 10,000 layoffs. We're seeing businesses convert to kiosks," he said. "You either have to do one of two things: raise prices or, more likely, scale back shifts, positions, or entire benefits or just let those people go. So we think it just takes the wrong path."
It's been nearly a decade since the state's minimum wage was last raised. In 2016, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law increasing the rate to $15 an hour, and the law stated that the boost would automatically adjust for inflation.
Califonia's minimum is among the highest in the country, almost twice as much as the federal requirements, though headlines show people struggling with the skyrocketing cost of living.
According to 2021 data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the annual cost of living in the state is a little over $53,000. The current minimum wage comes to about $33,000, according to the Los Angeles Times.
According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, even in the cheapest California county, a single adult, not accounting for children, would need to make at least $20.32 an hour to afford the basics comfortably.
Sanberg said those opposing the bill aren't always looking out for middle and lower-class citizens.
"The people who oppose raising the minimum wage always seem to be people who have a profit motive, who will make more money if wages stay low," he said,
If the proposition fails, the minimum wage in January would be $16.50 an hour.
