$18 minimum wage hike lacks sufficient signatures for ballot

There won't be a ballot measure to raise the state minimum wage to $18.

If the California Living Wage Act had been passed, base wages would have gone up to $16 an hour next January and to $18 an hour by 2025.

Even though it was backed by many labor groups and paid for by a wealthy investor, a plan to raise the minimum wage to $18 over the next three years did not make it to the November ballot.

The Secretary of State's office said that county election officials had not verified enough signatures by Thursday's deadline for the measure to qualify.

Because of the record rate of inflation, which has caused the biggest increase in the consumer price index in 40 years, California's minimum wage, which is the highest in the country, is already set to go up to $15.50 an hour next January.

If the California Living Wage Act had passed, it would have raised the minimum wage to $16 next January and to $18 by 2025. After that, it would have changed every year to keep up with the cost of living.

This year, the initiative campaign was one of the ones that didn't start collecting signatures until February. Joe Sanberg, who used to invest in new businesses in Los Angeles but now fights against poverty, said he would spend whatever it took to get it on the ballot. He put $10 million of his own money into the campaign. In May, supporters said they had collected more than a million signatures.

But the process of verifying signatures took too long, and a group of small business owners fought against the measure.

Supporters said they are still trying to get the measure on the ballot this fall by "whatever legal means are necessary."