California lawmakers move to delay new health care worker minimum wage as budget deficit looms

California lawmakers may delay for a month a planned wage hike for health care workers as negotiations continue over how to implement the new minimum wage law at a time when lawmakers are struggling to deal with a big budget deficit.

Lawmakers on Monday moved to gut the language in Senate Bill 828 and replace it with an urgency bill that will push the date for the first in a series of pay increases from June 1 to July 1. Urgency bills take effect immediately after Gov. Gavin Newsom signs them.

The action would apply to a law Newsom signed last year to give hundreds of thousands of direct patient care providers — including nurses, physicians and medical residents — a path to a $25-per-hour minimum wage. The law also covers support workers, such as janitors, housekeepers, food service workers, medical billing personnel and gift shop clerks.

Sen. María Elena Durazo, D-Los Angeles, authored Senate Bill 525. The senator and labor unions ultimately got the bill through the legislature by brokering an agreement with groups that opposed it, including the hospital industry, community clinics and dialysis centers.

Health care facilities were to begin paying workers $23 to $18 per hour, depending on the size of the hospital, the population of the surrounding community and the amount of government aid it receives. Facilities are to phase in wage increases, with some reaching $25 by 2026 and others by 2033.

However, Newsom has been saying for months he wants to make changes to the bill, in light of the estimated $45 billion budget deficit the state is facing. The state Department of Finance has projected the new minimum wage law would cost $4 billion to implement in fiscal year 2024-2025.

The governor in his January budget proposal suggested adding an annual “trigger” to make the minimum wage increases subject to funding availability.

Newsom did not mention the health care worker minimum wage in his revised budget earlier this month. In response to a question about negotiations, the governor mentioned the trigger proposal from his January budget and said “we are working to address it in July.”

“I’m going to get it done,” Newsom said. “This budget will not be signed without that deal we committed to being addressed.”

The Legislature must pass a budget by June 15. The new fiscal year begins on July 1.

Durazo on Monday said she wants to “make sure that we cover all our bases in the context of the current of the budget. She acknowledged those involved in negotiations are “still going to be in that conversation all the way to June 15.”

In spite of the governor’s push for triggers around the wage increases, Durazo said she and advocates are still opposed to changes.

“I can just tell you that my conversations are all about keeping the wage raise for those workers,” she said. “They’ve been counting on it. They’re depending on it. We voted for it.”