Is California’s fast food fight restarting?

The deal came together in the Legislature’s final week last year, a complex bill that raised the minimum wage for fast food workers and that pulled an industry referendum off the 2024 ballot. 

But now there are noticeable signs that the political fight between labor and industry is starting up again, CalMatters Capitol reporter Jeanne Kuang explains.

Republicans in the Legislature are on the warpath against the new law giving fast food workers a minimum wage of $20 an hour in April, calling for Gov. Gavin Newsom to be investigated over his dealings with a Panera Bread franchisee who is a major campaign donor. Newsom denies any impropriety and his office now says that Panera and other bakeries won’t be exempt from the wage hike. 

Not only that, but some McDonald’s franchise owners organizing under a political action committee have launched opposition campaigns against legislators who supported last year’s deal and are seeking public offices in the primary election. Among their targets: Democratic Assemblymembers Chris Holden of Pasadena and Kevin McCarty of Sacramento.

Some franchise owners and restaurant companies have also registered this year to lobby in San Jose, where a newly formed fast food workers union is seeking a city ordinance that requires employers provide paid time off and predictable schedules. Recently, the union has accused City Councilmember Dave Cohen for reconsidering his support of the ordinance due to industry influence, which Cohen denied.

Franchise owners haven’t spent as much money campaigning this year compared to the tens of millions of dollars fast food giants have spent in recent years pushing back against state regulation. But their recent activities indicate that owners — who have argued they were excluded from last year’s deal-making — are ramping up their involvement. Said one San Jose franchisee: “Businesses are going to speak up.”

Read more about the fast food deal in Jeanne’s story.

Fast food council: Another key part of the deal is a first-in-the-nation council that will set work rules for fast food restaurants, but it’s unclear whether business and labor representatives can agree. On Friday, Newsom announced his seven appointees to the council, including Chairperson Nicholas Hardeman, chief of staff to state Senate leader emeritus Toni Atkins. Hardeman will play a key role in trying to forge consensus — and could be the tie-breaking vote.

Newsom’s other picks are a mix of franchisees, workers and others: SG Ellison, CEO of Diversified Restaurant Co.; Piardip “Joe” Johal, CEO of Wendy’s of the Pacific; Michaela Mendelsohn, president and CEO of Pollo West Corp; Anneisha Williams, labor activist and a shift leader at Jack in the Box; Angelica Hernandez, a cook trainer at McDonald’s; and Richard Reinis, partner at Thompson Coburn LLP.

Legislative leaders have made the other two selections: Maria Maldonado, statewide field director of the California Fast Food Workers Union, and Joseph Bryant, an international executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union. 

Labor scorecard: The fast food deal was a capstone to one of the union movement’s most successful legislative sessions in years. So it isn’t a shock that the California Labor Federation awarded 100% to a record 36 of 120 legislators in its 2023 scorecard, up significantly from 16 lawmakers in 2022. The federation includes 1,300 unions with more than 2.3 million members.

• Lorena Gonzalez, federation leader, in a statement: “2023 was truly a historic year for working Californians and their unions. The tremendous support we saw on the picket line and in our communities spilled over to our Legislature, as our elected representatives championed worker priorities.” 

Newsom, however, received only a 70% score, down from 88% in 2022. Among other black marks from labor’s point of view, he vetoed a bill to grant unemployment benefits to striking workers.

It’s the next to last day to vote in person or mail back ballots for California’s primary. So candidates and parties were out in force over the weekend trying to get out the vote.

But as California grows more diverse, is the state keeping up to make sure ballots and voter information come in all the languages spoken by significant numbers of voters?

The issue came up in 2022, when the Secretary of State’s office moved toward requiring ballots and voter information translated into fewer languages. After advocates sounded the alarm and CalMatters wrote about the issue, the state reversed course and reinstated 27 languages, instead of just 10. 

Now, a bill led by Assemblymember Evan Low would require California’s Secretary of State to identify, in each county and precinct, the languages spoken by minority groups who don’t speak English fluently and provide election-related language assistance to them, reports Justo Robles of CalMatters’ California Divide team.

By making voting material more accessible, the Cupertino Democrat argues that the state can “reduce barriers and enfranchise more Californians.” But critics of the bill, such as the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, say it’s too costly. The association estimated that increasing the requirements would “more than double the county’s language service costs and demand on labor.” And an analysis by the Assembly’s appropriations committee estimated that the proposal would cost $28.8 million in its first year of implementation and about $15.2 million annually after that.

To learn more about Low’s measure, read Justo’s story.

Voter turnout: As of late Friday, about 2.6 million ballots have been returned, or 11.9% of the total sent to all 22 million-plus registered voters, according to Political Data’s tracker. That compares to 12.4% at the same point in 2022 and 15.2% in the 2020 presidential primary. If there isn’t a late surge of mail voting or in-person voters on Tuesday, California could have the lowest turnout in a presidential primary. 

U.S. Senate poll: In the headliner race Tuesday, a new poll is the latest to point to Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and Republican former baseball star Steve Garvey finishing in the top two and facing off in November. This is the first major survey to put Garvey in the lead, though within the margin of error. 

Garvey is at 27% among likely voters, after building support among Republicans and conservatives and emphasizing immigration as an issue, according to the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times. Schiff stands at 25%, while fellow Democratic Rep. Katie Porter has 19% and Rep. Barbara Lee has 8%. Six weeks ago in the Berkeley IGS poll, Garvey was lagging in third, behind Porter.

But Schiff has been elevating Garvey in his ads, and the poll shows why: In a two-way race in the fall, Schiff would start with a huge lead over Garvey — 53% to 38% — while Schiff and Porter would begin the November campaign in a tie. 

Presidential race: While President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump appear likely to win their party primaries on Tuesday, Biden’s lead over Trump in California in a fall matchup is far smaller than his margin of victory in 2020, according to the poll. When third-party candidates are included, Biden leads by 12 percentage points, compared to the 29-point win in 2020.

Meanwhile, Newsom keeps making cameo appearances: On his border visit Thursday, Trump coined a new nickname for the governor (“New Scum”), and NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” opening skit had him extolling Biden’s vigor.

From CalMatters K-12 education reporter Carolyn Jones:

San Pasqual Valley Unified is one of the rarest school districts in the state. Located in the far southeastern corner of California, San Pasqual spans 1,800 miles of the Sonoran desert along the Arizona and Mexico borders. It’s rural, remote and has one of the state’s highest rates of Native American students.

But its challenges are not unique — they’re reflected among rural schools and Native communities across California. CalMatters looked closely how San Pasqual and other districts try to help their students overcome daunting odds:

• Rural students have a high-school graduation rate 12 percentage points lower than the state average
• Only 29% of rural students complete the required coursework to attend California’s public universities, compared to 50% of students statewide
• Rural students’ college-going rate is 20 percentage points lower than the state average
• Native students trail their peers in nearly every educational indicator
• Native students’ college-going rate is half that of their peers in other ethnic and racial groups

We also looked at how state policies can help — or hinder — efforts to improve outcomes for these students. Some new laws have led to huge headaches for these schools, while other laws aim to make rural schools more equitable, especially for Native American students.

But beyond public policies, a slew of teachers, counselors, administrators and tribal members work directly with students to build trust, instill confidence and open doors.

• Rachel McBride-Praetorius, a member of the Yurok tribe and Chico State’s director of tribal relations: “The burden should not be on the students. It shouldn’t be on the families, either. The burden is on us. We all know the issues and barriers. We need to do our best to remove those barriers so students feel supported.”

To find out more, read the stories focusing on rural students and on Native American pupils.