Today, Senate Minority Leader Brian W. Jones (R-San Diego) and his Senate Republican colleagues shared their concerns about allegations of the Governor’s impropriety when negotiating exemptions from last year’s Fast Food Minimum Wage Bill. Today the Senate heard Assembly Bill 610 (D-Holden, Los Angeles), which will add new exemptions to California’s highly controversial law enacting a $20-per-hour minimum wage for major fast food chains (AB 1228, 2023).
AB 610’s additional exemptions from this wage-hike law come after a carve-out was provided to bakeries like Panera Bread last year. News reports link this special treatment to an individual Panera franchisee’s relationship – and campaign contributions – to Governor Newsom.
On the Senate floor, Leader Jones attempted to move AB 610 to the inactive file, citing the news reports and stressing the need to reject any possibility that California is a corrupt, pay-to-play state. Senate Democrats rejected the move, and passed the bill without Republican support.
Below are remarks from Senate Republicans made on the Senate Floor today about the blatant cronyism and favoritism displayed by the governor and his Democrat colleagues.
Click here for full remarks from Sen. Kelly Seyarto (Murrieta): “For Pete’s sake, stop making exemptions just for the people who have the connections and the ability to pay, because that’s what this is. … And, that’s bad legislation. And, we should be ashamed of ourselves for passing stuff like this.”
Click here for full remarks from Sen. Brian Dahle (Bieber): “… the governor just stated today that it’s the way sausage is made. Well, there’s a lot of pork in sausage, and a lot of his friends are getting some pork out of it. … At the end of the day we need to pass good laws, and we need to not carve out people who are campaign donors.”
Click here for full remarks from Sen. Scott Wilk (Santa Clarita): “In light of the recent allegations … I’m going to lay off this bill today. I think we really do need to take a serious look at this issue; if what is alleged is true, it’s not acceptable.”
Click here for full remarks from Leader Jones: “I think it’s important for all of us to recognize that a blistering media report published yesterday indicates that exemptions to the original mandate on the minimum wage hike are tied to the governor’s campaign contributions. … That’s crony capitalism. … We need to send a message that this senate, that this house, that these members, that this bipartisan group of legislators that are trying to make California better, will not condone pay-to-play actions.”
Senate Republicans did not support AB 610 on the floor today. All Senate Republicans opposed AB 1228 last year. In a further effort to stop the assault on California employers, Sen. Dahle even made a formal request to the governor to veto the legislation.