Foes of raising CA minimum wage declare victory

Two weeks after Election Day, the results on two of the 10 statewide propositions remain undecided. But opponents and supporters aren’t waiting around.

Prop. 32 opponents declare victory: Despite no official call by the Associated Press, opponents said voters delivered a “historic” rejection of the statewide ballot measure to raise the hourly minimum wage from $16 to $18.

The No on Prop. 32 campaign, which is made up of a coalition of business groups, noted how previous efforts to raise the minimum wage at the state and local level succeeded. (In 2023, lawmakers passed two laws to raise the hourly wages of fast food and health care workers.) The campaign also said that Prop. 32 “barely passed” in coastal communities, which typically have higher local minimum wage ordinances due to their higher cost of living.

• Jot Condie, president and CEO of the California Restaurant Association, in a statement: “It is important that policymakers hear the message being sent by the voters — stop using California consumers as guinea pigs for public policy experiments that make life more expensive for everyone.” 

As of late Monday, the measure was trailing 50.8% to 49.2%, and opponents said there aren’t enough votes left to flip the result. But Prop. 32 supporters are saying it ain’t over ’til it’s over. As of late Monday, there were about 695,000 ballots left to count statewide.

• Angelo Greco, spokesperson for the Yes on Prop. 32 campaign, in a statement: “As the last 25 years have taught us, it’s unwise to declare victory prematurely. When the Associated Press, which we all can regard as independent minded, declares an outcome of Prop. 32, then we will assess.”

Prop. 34 target concedes defeat: Prop. 34 was winning 50.8% to 49.2% as of late Monday, but also hadn’t been called by the AP. The measure, which would require certain health care providers to spend most of their revenue from a federal prescription drug discount program on patient care, targets the AIDS Healthcare Foundation for pushing local rent control. It sponsored Prop. 33, which also failed, and the foundation’s president conceded defeat Friday, reports The Sacramento Bee. 

In more election news:

• Voter ID: Huntington Beach notched a win in its fight against the state to implement its local voter identification requirement: An Orange County judge ruled last week that the charter change approved by voters in March can go into effect in 2026. The state sued the city in April, arguing that the law disenfranchised voters and violated California election code. Lawmakers also passed legislation in September banning local voter ID requirements. The state has until Dec. 5 to file an amended petition.

• Vince Fong: U.S. Rep. Vince Fong resigned from the state Legislature after his successful bid for Congress — but not before filing for reelection as an Assemblymember. Despite publicly endorsing his “opponent,” the Bakersfield Republican “won.” So taxpayers will have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for a special election to fill a seat Fong no longer wants (and can’t legally occupy). Read more about the political pickle from CalMatters Digital Democracy reporter Ryan Sabalow.

The amount spent on lobbying state legislators could be on track to hit a record this year, with tech and oil companies leading the way, writes CalMatters data reporter Jeremia Kimelman.

A CalMatters analysis of state data found that in just the first nine months of 2024, labor unions, businesses and nonprofits spent $420 million to influence lawmakers — compared to $484 million in all of 2023 and $443 million in all of 2022. 

In the third quarter of 2024 alone, lobbying money reached a record of nearly $168 million, exceeding the previous quarter of $131 million. Between July 1 and Sept. 30, Google poured in the most, spending $10.7 million — including about $9.75 million to two industry groups to successfully oppose two bills that sought to fund local journalism. 

The second biggest spender during the third quarter: The Western States Petroleum Association, at $10.1 million. It lobbied on 25 bills during the regular session and the special session called by Gov. Gavin Newsom this fall to curb gas price spikes. The session resulted in legislation requiring oil refineries to maintain a minimum amount of fuel stock.

Read more about lobbyist spending this year in Jeremia’s story.

California is one of 24 states that allow transgender students to play on sports teams that match their gender identity. But as members of the LGBTQ+ community prepare for the incoming Donald Trump presidency’s impact on health care for transgender residents, athletes in California are being swept into the growing national movement to ban transgender players from women’s college sports.

As Desmond Meagley and Amy Moore of CalMatters’ College Journalism Network explain, four teams in the Mountain West Conference this fall forfeited games against San Jose State University’s volleyball team after Brooke Slusser, a San Jose State player from Texas, publicly identified a teammate as transgender. 

Slusser joined other female athletes in a lawsuit against the NCAA to oppose its policy allowing transgender women to compete against them. And last week, players from the forfeited universities filed a separate lawsuit against California State University officials, the NCAA and the conference commissioner for the same reason.

For LGBTQ+ advocates, the issue is about more than just access to team sports: Transgender youth have worse mental health outcomes in states with anti-trans laws, and states that ban trangender students from playing with their peers have fewer girls playing school sports overall. 

• Bonnie Sugiyama, director of San Jose State’s PRIDE Center: “To restrict people based on their identity … just because you don’t know where to put them? That’s not really an acceptable response.”

Learn more about California’s transgender athletes in Desmond and Amy’s story.

Nonprofits that provide vital homelessness services say they must wait weeks, sometimes months, for government reimbursements — compelling them to scale back their services. CalMatters’ Marisa Kendall and video strategy director Robert Meeks have a video segment on this issue, as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58 p.m. weekdays on PBS SoCal.