California Governor Brown signed legislation (SB 3) into law on April 4, 2016, that will raise the statewide minimum wage to $15 by 2022, unless the governor delays an increase for a specific year due to poor economic conditions.

California joins New York in raising the minimum wage to $15 this year. Legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 has also been introduced by presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders.

California minimum wage details

The minimum wage, currently at $10 an hour, will increase to $10.50 effective January 1, 2017 and $11 effective January 1, 2018 for businesses with 26 or more employees, and then increase by $1 each January 1 until it reaches $15 in 2022.

For businesses with 25 or fewer employees, the bill delays the increases by one year, increasing the minimum wage from $10 to $10.50 effective January 1, 2018 and $11 effective January 1, 2019, and then by $1 each year until it reaches $15 in 2023.

After 2022 (2023 for small businesses), increases in the minimum wage each year would be based on inflation, limiting any increase to 3.5%.

According to the governor's news release, the governor can twice during the scheduled increases act by September 1 of the preceding year to delay a minimum wage increase by one year if there is a forecasted budget deficit of more than 1% of annual revenue or poor economic conditions.

The bill also requires paid sick leave for In-Home Supportive Services workers starting in July 2018.

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