Is California’s minimum wage enough for workers?

From Alejandra Reyes-Velarde of CalMatters’ California Divide team:

California’s $16 hourly minimum wage may be much higher than a “poverty wage” by federal standards, but high housing costs still make it difficult for low-wage workers to make ends meet in the state, according to a new report by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. 

The report, published Monday, paints a picture of who low-wage workers are and whether the state’s minimum wage is sufficient to address poverty and inequality.

Many workers move on from low-wage work to higher paying jobs as they transition from their 20s to their 30s, but that mobility slows significantly when workers enter their early 30s, according to the report. 

• The report: “The state’s economic policies should reflect the fact that many workers hold relatively low-wage jobs through middle age and beyond.”

The majority of low-wage workers — defined as those who earn an hourly wage of $17.50 or less — are home health and personal care aides. Three-fourths of them are part of the state’s In-Home Supportive Services program, which provides care aides to low-income individuals. 

Fast food workers make up the second largest low wage occupation, but that likely won’t be the case once that industry’s $20-an-hour minimum wage kicks in next month. Other low-wage jobs include cashiers, retail salespeople, waiters, farmworkers and packagers.

Nearly six in 10 low-wage workers are Latino, and about half of those are immigrants. Most low-wage workers live with at least one other worker and have no young children. 

The analyst’s office also found that California’s major metropolitan areas and much of its Central Coast are unaffordable for minimum wage workers, regardless of whether they are single-income households, double-low-income households or if they have children. For minimum wage workers with a more “favorable” ratio of income to expenses — for example those without children and those with two earners in a household — housing in some rural and mid-size metro areas may be affordable. 

• The report: “Going forward, the Legislature may wish to consider taking a more active role — perhaps by setting different minimum wages in different regions or by helping local governments coordinate their minimum wage policies.”

In other making-ends-meet news from Monday:

Attorney General Rob Bonta announced his support for a bill to stop medical debt from showing up on consumers’ credit reports. State Sen. Monique Limón, a Santa Barbara Democrat, consumer groups and the California Nurses Association are pushing Senate Bill 1061, arguing that unforeseen medical debt is not a reliable indicator of financial risk.

• Bonta, in a statement: “We can stop the harmful spiral where people have unforeseen, catastrophic medical debt and become unhoused, unemployed, or without a vehicle to get to work.”

Meanwhile, the California Budget & Policy Center, a left-leaning advocacy group, warned against changes proposed in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s initial budget to the state’s cash aid program, CalWORKs. The center says that focusing on moving parents into jobs and reducing vital support services would “likely undermine the governor’s commitment” to strengthen family stability and well-being.

The official cause of death on Fredreaka Jack’s autopsy report says complications from Type 2 diabetes. But the parolee’s story — a long and tragic journey through the state’s complex mental and physical health care system that ended at age 37 — highlights how the most vulnerable can fall through the cracks of California’s largest rehabilitation program for parolees.

As CalMatters investigative reporter Byrhonda Lyons explains, the taxpayer funded Specialized Treatment for Optimized Programming, or STOP, serves about 8,500 parolees a year and operates under the state’s corrections department. But STOP has grown with little oversight from the department over the years: In a yearlong investigation, Byrhonda found that state officials could not determine if the program helped parolees stay out of prison or secure jobs.

In Jack’s case, Byrhonda found that the corrections department and two STOP contractors failed to provide and monitor the intense medical care Jack needed after being released from prison, where she was serving a 32-month sentence for burglary.

Months before her death, Jack was sent to STOP’s Walden House reentry facility located in El Monte. But a state hospital discharged her with only 30 days of medication to treat her schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, diabetes and other ailments. She lost 50 pounds in three months.

The Amity Foundation has a five-year, $121 million contract with the corrections department to oversee reentry homes in Los Angeles County, including Walden House. It costs taxpayers about $5,200 a month per parolee for Walden House to provide housing, food, substance use disorder treatment and other resources. 

State records show Amity didn’t review the facility in 2021 or 2022, despite its contract requiring it to do so. And before Jack died — 14 hours after being discharged from her last state hospital visit — her blood-sugar levels began to increase.

To learn more about Jack and the circumstances leading to her death, read Byrhonda’s story. And find out more about how she did the story from our engagement team.

To keep the 148 campuses of California’s public university systems humming, the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges emit a massive amount of carbon. UCLA, for example, emits the equivalent of nearly 50,000 cars annually.

So as the state sets its sights on achieving carbon neutrality by 2045, how will these three university systems reduce their carbon footprint while achieving their own ambitions for campus growth and expansion?

As Christina Chkarboul of CalMatters’ College Journalism Network writes, schools can cut emissions in various ways. They can buy outside electricity from local utilities, employ on-site power plants, retrofit facilities to be more energy efficient, use solar arrays to power buildings and electrify vehicle fleets.

Last July, the UC overhauled its prior climate goals, originally set in 2013, to extend its deadline for becoming carbon neutral from 2025 to 2045. The new plan, estimated to cost $6 billion to $10 billion, moves away from purchasing carbon offsets and toward using renewable energy sources and investing in carbon removal projects.

Cal State revised its climate plan in 2022. It aims to reduce carbon emissions to 80% below 1990 levels by 2040, and requires its campuses to monitor and report their monthly energy use. Cal State has also committed to steer away from any natural gas infrastructure for campus projects starting in 2035. 

California Community Colleges are in the earliest stage of their climate efforts, and have yet to track carbon emissions. Nevertheless, the college system aims to reach net-zero by 2035 — beating the statewide goal by a decade.

For more on college campuses going carbon neutral, read Christina’s story.

Are you a college journalist in California? The CalMatters College Journalism Network is looking for our 2024-25 fellows. Applications are due by April 12. For more info and to RSVP for an upcoming open house, visit this webpage.

Last year, California’s salmon season was shut down — a huge blow to hundreds of commercial fishermen and women and thousands of recreational anglers. Is it happening again this year? Find out from CalMatters water reporter Rachel Becker.