On Monday Governor Brown signed Senate Bill 3, a bill which will gradually increase minimum wages in California in a manner that is very similar to the Los Angeles ordinance, except that the state increases will not be complete until 2023 (the Los Angeles increases begin on July 1, 2016 with a $10.50 per hour requirement for businesses with 26 or more employees and will continue until the rate reaches $15 per hour on July 1, 2020; Los Angeles allows that smaller businesses with 25 or fewer employees will have an additional year to match the increases).   The first increase starts next year on January 1 with a bump to $10.50 per hour for businesses with 26 or more employees, with smaller businesses matching the increase the following year.  The proposed increases for larger businesses are as follows: $10.50 in 2017, $11 in 2018, $12 in 2019, $13 in 2020, $14 in 221 and $15 in 2022; smaller businesses with 25 or fewer employees will have an additional year to raise their hourly rate.  Thereafter, future increases will be determined by the California Director of Finance based on the adjusted United States Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.

Senate Bill 3 contains a provision that allows the governor the option to temporarily suspend any scheduled increase in the event of recessionary economic conditions.  In addition, commencing in 2017, the Director of Finance is required to determine if economic factors support scheduled increases.

The bill also includes a provision that requires that amends the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 to allow in-home supportive services personnel accrue paid sick leave beginning on July 1, 2018 (the Department of Social Services will issue a guidance on this by December 1, 2017).