Did that subject line make you do a double take, ?
You read that right. Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn has withdrawn her proposal to aggressively raise minimum pay for theme park and hotel workers. This Daily News report points to BizFed's sustained advocacy as a reason for the last-minute pivot. (The article is copied below.) We're also pivoting.
Supervisor Hahn's move to pull the item off Tuesday's board agenda means we're suspending our earlier call-to-action to BizFed members to attend the meeting en masse wearing blue.
A smaller group of tourism leaders will show up to express appreciation for this withdrawal – and to remind the Board of Supervisors how important it is to thoroughly study economic impacts and engage diverse stakeholders well before proposing policies that could have a sweeping effect on jobs and the economy. We're closely monitoring this and similar efforts in other municipalities. We'll mobilize quickly where needed. Stay tuned for next steps.
Please contact sarah.wiltfong@bizfed.org with questions.
BY STEVE SCAUZILLO
SEPT. 7, 2023 –– A proposal from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to raise the minimum wage to $25 an hour for hotel workers and theme park employees at businesses within unincorporated areas of the county was withdrawn on Thursday, Sept. 7.Introduced by Fourth District Supervisor Janice Hahn, the Tourism Worker Minimum Wage Ordinance, listed as item number 20 on the board’s upcoming Sept. 12 meeting agenda, included an attached note saying the motion would not be heard.“NOTE: Supervisor Hahn requests that this item be referred back to her office,” read the notice on the agenda, referring to her motion.Hahn’s office confirmed on Thursday that the item she announced on Aug. 8 for discussion and for a possible ordinance before the five-member board on Sept. 12, was not going to be heard and there would be no vote.“This motion needs some more work before it is ready for a vote,” Hahn said in an emailed response on Thursday. Hahn did not elaborate on what changes were needed.The proposal would have directed county attorneys to draft an ordinance affecting unincorporated areas that would require workers at hotels with more than 60 rooms, including contractors and lessees, along with theme park workers and workers in related retail, food services and theaters within the theme park zone, to pay workers a minimum of $25 per hour.The minimum wage would have been increased to $30 an hour by 2028, according to the proposal.Hahn’s motion was read into the record on Aug. 8 and was seconded by Third District Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. The proposal mirrored similar ordinances being considered by the cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach.Members of the business community have been lobbying against the proposal for the past month. Some say it was efforts from the Los Angeles County Business Federation, known as BizFed, that led Hahn to pull the measure from the agenda.“We’ve been putting a lot of pressure on,” Tracy Hernandez, founding CEO of BizFed, said on Thursday. “We are pleased with that action.”
BizFed is an alliance of more than 240 business groups representing 420,000 employers that advances a shared, pro-business agenda in L.A. County.
BizFed had said the measure would negatively affect small businesses, including vendors who have shops at Universal Studios CityWalk, a row of retail leading to the entrance of the theme park. About 70% of Universal Studios Hollywood and the theme park in the San Fernando Valley are within an unincorporated county island and therefore would have been affected by the proposed ordinance.
Tony Ali, owner of Sunsations Sunglasses on the CityWalk, says he is an independent, small business owner who would have to pay higher wages to employees, raising his bottom line. He sells designer sunglasses for which the prices are pretty much fixed by the brand, he said.
“The dollar amount of the items would stay the same. But wages will go up. It’s crazy,” Ali said on Thursday. “It is very difficult as an independent. The big guys have the volume to do it,” he said.
Ali said he didn’t think the measure would be adopted.
The motion argued that the measure would give those making the current minimum wage, $16.90, a little more purchasing power that could help the county economy.
Los Angeles County attracted 46.2 million visitors last year, contributing $34.5 billion to the county’s economy. Yet wages paid to workers at hotels and theme parks are often economically restrictive and can prevent hotel and theme park workers from exercising purchasing power at local businesses, which takes a toll on the local economy, read the motion.
Hahn said in August she anticipated pushback from the industry.
“I’m of the mind that an industry as profitable as the tourism industry in Los Angeles County should pay their workers enough that they can survive in L.A. County,” Hahn told the press last month.
Onward!
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BizFed Founding CEO
