Nice Time! All Californians Will Be Rich Now With $10 Minimum Wage Hooray!

Oh, California, you are so much better than all the other states. (Sorry, other states, but it is SO true.) Not just because of your best this-side-of-the-border Mexican food. Or your medical marijuana dispensaries. Or your bills to actually expand abortion access . All of which is, to be sure, the awesome. But here is a shiny new reason why the Golden State is The Best:

A bill that would boost California's minimum wage to $10 an hour by 2016 won approval by the state Legislature on Thursday and was sent to Gov. Jerry Brown, who said he would sign it.

The measure would raise the current $8 minimum wage to $9 an hour next July 1 and to $10 on Jan. 1, 2016.

The 25% increase would be the first minimum-wage hike in California in five years and would put extra money in the pockets of an estimated 2.4 million Californians.

All the monies for everyone hooray!

Of course, $10 an hour doesn't go very far in the land of the highest rental market in the country , but it's a pretty good step. In fact, it will make California even better than those other hippie commie states that currently have higher minimum wages:

Washington state has the highest at $9.19 an hour, followed by Oregon at $8.95 and Vermont at $8.60. Nevada, Connecticut, the District of Columbia and Illinois all have minimum wages of $8.25 an hour.

Which is why, of course, certain, ahem, special interests who believe workers should get paid nothing and like it are opposed:

The California Chamber of Commerce, which headed a large coalition of more than two dozen business organizations, labeled the bill "a job killer." The coalition warned that higher wages could raise the unemployment rate and jeopardize California's economic recovery.

"This is an unprecedented wage hike," said Jot Condie, president of the California Restaurant Assn. He predicted that many of the state's 87,000 eateries would deal with increased labor costs by cutting back employees' hours and reducing hiring.

Oh boo hoo. The whole economy will collapse if employees are paid a barely living wage. Fortunately, Gov. Jerry Brown, aka Revenge of the Moonbeam, is all, like, screw that :

“The minimum wage has not kept pace with rising costs,” Brown said in a statement. “This legislation is overdue and will help families that are struggling in this harsh economy.”

Helping struggling families instead of the businesses that hate them? What a novel concept! And that is why California is more better than your state today, the end.

[ L.A. Times ]