The Los Angeles City Council has approved an increase in the citywide minimum wage to $15 an hour.
The minimum will be raised gradually, starting July 2016, with a rise to $10.50, and then rising about $1 each year until the threshold hits $15 in 2020. Businesses with 25 or fewer workers are given another year to reach that level.
The 14-1 vote authorizes the state attorney to draft specific language for an ordinance. That specific legislation would then be submitted to a council committee for final approval. The timeframe was not disclosed.
The city follows Seattle in raising the pay floor to that level. The situation in the nation’s second largest city was closely watched as a barometer of what might happen elsewhere. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, for instance, is expected in July to use executive action to raise the minimum wage in his state to $15 an hour.
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