California's nation-leading $25 minimum wage for health workers will rely on a significant boost in federal funding and exempt thousands of state employees under an agreement that is expected to be approved in the coming days. The minimum wage hike for more than 400,000 health workers, which will be phased in over several years, was to start June 1, but will now begin no earlier than Oct. 15 and no later than Jan.
1 under a budget deal announced June 22. The legislature is expected to approve the changes and Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign them into law before the new fiscal year begins July 1.
The delay is just one of several health-related measures in the nearly $300 billion state spending plan. The budget includes about $800 million in cuts to public health and health care workforce programs, but they are less severe than what Newsom initially proposed. It includes an 8% reduction in public health spending and preserves in-home support for Medi-Cal recipients regardless of their legal status.
It counts on nearly $1.8 billion in additional revenue from the Managed Care Organization tax. Newsom, a Democrat, had wanted an annual trigger that would have delayed the health worker wage bumps in tight budget years like this one, when the state faced a nearly $47 billion deficit.
Instead, Democratic leaders who control the legislature agreed to a one-time trigger that will start the increases in October if state revenues come in 3% higher than expected, or no later than in January after.
