Law intended to raise fast food chain wages, regulate industry put on hold

By RIA ROEBUCK JOSEPH THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

(The Center Square) - On Dec. 29 2022, a coalition of restaurant advocates filed a lawsuit to suspend the implementation of the FAST Act (AB 257) that was due to take effect on Jan. 1. The Save Local Restaurants Coalition, consisting of the U.S Chamber of Commerce, the National Restaurant Association and led by the International Franchise Association, collected more than 1 million petition signatures to prevent the law from going into effect, thereby meeting the state’s referendum requirements to bring the measure before the public for a vote.

The International Franchise Association announced Jan. 25 that “the FAST Act has been officially postponed until the November 2024 election.”

“We’re pleased that Californians will get the chance to exercise their constitutional right to vote on this law and will continue to support the operators, small business owners, and workers that make the restaurant industry so important to our customers’ lives,” National Restaurant Association Executive Vice President for Public Affairs Sean Kennedy said.

Governor Gavin Newsom signed the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act on Sept. 5, 2023 which would have created a 10-person council - two fast-food franchisors, two franchisees, two employees, two advocates of workers rights, one representative from the Department of Industrial Relations, and one from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development - to review employment standards and increase minimum wage by 3.5% every year and up to $22 per hour in 2023.

The bill drew strong reaction from local restaurants who feared the bill would jeopardize their livelihoods and impact more than half a million workers across the state.

In an evaluation of California’s minimum wage increases over 30 years, reported by the Employment Policies Institute, Dr. David Macpherson of Trinity University and Dr. William Even of Miami University examined the observant effects of rising minimum wages in California from 1990 to 2020. Dr. Macpherson and Dr. Even looked at 24 counties and 15 industries studying the impacts of an increasing minimum wage on private-sector employment across county-industry pairs. The researchers poured over three decades of data using 24 unique variations to their original model to ensure that the treatment of the evidence was fair and reasonable.

The economists found that employment in industries with high volumes of lower-paid employees, led to a reduction of 5% of employees for every 10% increase in minimum wage, and across all industries i.e. those not necessarily requiring high volumes of lower paid employees, a 10% increase reduced employment for 2% of the workforce.

“Industries with the greatest number of affected employees are most severely affected by job loss, according to Even and Macpherson; nearly half of the observed job loss occurs in foodservice and retail industries,” the report read.

Mr. Kennedy said, “The FAST Act is bad policy that threatens not only quick service restaurants, but the independents operating in the same neighborhoods. There is no way that the regulations passed by this unelected council would not damage the state’s restaurant industry, harm its workforce, and leave diners paying the bill.”

The institute report seems to confirm this. “What is not in dispute based on this study,” the report read, “is that California’s rising minimum wage has depressed employment opportunities in the most heavily impacted industries.”

The coalition hopes that the referendum could allow for time to protect workers, consumers and restaurant owners from the most dire effects of the bill by informing voters of its damaging impacts.

“Employers, workers, and consumers can take heart that the FAST Act has been put on hold permanently through November 2024. Had this ruinous policy gone into effect, not only would food prices rise and jobs be lost, but big labor would already be exporting it to other states and industries. In 2024, California’s voters will have the opportunity to put a stake into this law and save local restaurants,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce Senior Vice President of Employment Policy Glenn Spencer said.

The FAST Act law would apply to restaurant brands with 30 or more locations nationwide affecting coffee shops, ice-cream and frozen yogurt parlors, salad bars, justice and smoothie counters, bakeries, delis, pizzerias and fast food restaurants. Research on the bill led by Democratic strategists Will Gudelunas and Matt Rodriguez, concluded that 61 percent of California voters believe that the Food Sector Council would cause food prices to rise and 75 percent of voters would frequent these restaurants less often if prices increased. In fact,

Overnight construction activity impacted air quality at Central Library at 40 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara. Tests are being done to ensure the building is safe for patrons and staff. Results will not be available until next week. Out of an abundance of caution, the Central Library is closed and expects to reopen on Jan. 31.

While staff are unavailable to answer the library’s main phone line, patrons can contact library staff using the library’s chat during regular hours on the website, texting 805-273-8916 or calling Eastside Library at 805-963-3 727 or Montecito Library at 805969-5063.

Central Library’s Faulkner Gallery is on a separate HVAC system, and room rental events scheduled are not impacted by the closure, but the galleries will be closed for art viewing.

Patrons with holds ready for pickup at Central Library email: kzehnder@newspress.com

Santa Barbara Public Library’s Library on the Go van will add additional stops on Friday, Saturday and Monday featuring collections and children’s programming.

Library on the Go van will be at Alameda Park from 2:30 p.m. until 5 p.m. today, following the regular Shoreline Park visit from 10 a.m. until noon.

The van will visit Alameda Park from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Library staff will have children’s activities all day, in addition to a Poetry Walk featuring poems written by local poets as part of a workshop with Mission Poetry Series.

On Monday, the van will visit Shoreline Park from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. for a special pop-up Stay and Play class for families and young children. The van will be at Alameda Park from 2:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. with activities for school-age children.

WENDY McCAW . . . . . . . . . . . . . Co-Publisher

ARTHUR VON WIESENBERGER . . . . .Co-Publisher

YOLANDA APODACA . . . . . . . . . . . Director of Operations

DAVE MASON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing Editor

HOW TO REACH US . . .

MAIN OFFICE 715 Anacapa St. Santa Barbara, 93101..805-564-5200

MAILING ADDRESS

P.O. Box 1359, Santa Barbara 93102

NEWSROOM ADVERTISING

News Hotline 805-564-5277

Email...dmason@newspress.com

Life 805-564-5277

Sports 805-564-5177

News Fax 805-966-6258

Corrections 805-564-5277

Classified 805-963-4391

Classified Fax 805-966-1421

Retail 805-564-5139

Retail Fax 805-564-5189

Toll Free 1-800-423-8304

Voices/editorial pages ..805-564-5277

COPYRIGHT ©202

SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS

All rights are reserved on material produced by the News-Press, including stories,

HOW TO GET US . . . CIRCULATION ISSUES 805-966-7171 refunds@newspress.com newsubscriptions@newspress.com vacationholds@newspress.com cancellations@newspress.com

Mail delivery of the News-Press is available in most of Santa Barbara County. If you do not receive your paper Monday through Saturday, please call our Circulation Department. The Circulation Department is open Monday - Saturday 8 a.m. to noon.

SUBSCRIPTION RATES www.newspress.com Newspress.com is a local virtual community network providing information about Santa Barbara, in addition to the online edition of the News-Press.

Mail delivery in Santa Barbara County: $5.08 per week includes sales tax, daily, and the Weekend edition. Holidays only, $3.85 per week includes sales tax. Single-copy price of 75 cents daily and $2 Weekend edition includes sales tax at vending racks. Tax may be added to copies puchased elsewhere.

VOL. 167 NO.