Senate Standing Committee on Labor, Public Employment and Retirement

[Roll call]

Thank you, Senator Durazo, you may begin.

Thank you. Members, I'm here to present SB 828, an urgency measure that moves the start date of the healthcare minimum wage by one month to July 1, 2024.

SB 525, as you recall, provided a historic wage increase to more than 450,000 healthcare workers, mainly women and people of color, who take care of us, who took care of us and keep our healthcare system functioning. It is clear that these workers need this in order to help support their families.

I also appreciate the healthcare employers that have recognized this and have already begun to increase wages. This Bill reaffirms the goals of SB 525 while aligning SB 525 with the budget year. I have with me from SEIU, Matt Lege, who will speak.

Good morning. Matt Lege here on behalf of SEIU California. We're the proud sponsors of SB 525. We took that bill on because we have a critical healthcare worker shortage of more than 500,000 healthcare workers in California in terms of that need. And that was before the pandemic.

Now, that need has just grown after the horrors of the pandemic, and we need to make sure that we have the healthcare workforce to deliver on California's care needs.

Our healthcare workforce that is impacted by this Bill, by the recent Labor Center report found that 75% of these workers are women of color, 75% of these workers are people are women, and 75% are people of color.

SB 828, as the Senator mentioned, aligns the law with the state fiscal year, so it makes them a little easier to administer. And we urge your support of SB 828.

Thank you very much. Is there other witnesses? Nope. So we will go to the room. Anyone in the room here speaking in support? Please state your name, affiliation, and position on the Bill.

Hi, good morning. Mark Farouk, California Hospital Association, in support. Thank you.

Hi. Good morning. Christina Alvarez. I represent 20,000 workers throughout the State of California. Security officers, including all Kaiser's security officers, all throughout Sacramento and the State of California. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good morning, Madam Chair and Members. My name is Sarah. I work at Mercy General Dignity Health, also known as common spirit. I'm a neurodiagnostic tech, also an Executive Board member, representing thousands of healthcare workers here in the Sacramento Valley and region. We are in support of SB 828. Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Marquetta Willingham. I work with Kaiser Permanente as a senior surgical technologist, and I represent SEIU UHW. I am here to support SB 828. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi. My name is April White, and I'm a cashier receptionist at Tracy Kaiser. And as a healthcare worker and a member of SEIU UHW, I support 828.

Thank you.

Good morning. My name is Kiturah James. I'm a senior staff assistant at Kaiser Permanente here in Sacramento. As a SEIU UHW member, we support SB 828.

Good morning. My name is Melinda Mcgee. I work at South Sacramento, Kaiser. I am a Member of SEIU UHW. I'm a lab assistant at Kaiser, and I'm here to support SB 828.

Thank you. Okay, seeing no other witnesses in support, we'll move to opposition. Is there an opposition witness here? Okay. Anyone wanting to speak in opposition to this Bill? Okay. Seeing none. Okay, we'll bring it to our Member. Would you? Thank you. Senator Cortese moves the Bill.

And I just want to say to the author, thank you for your phenomenal work and to the sponsors for this Bill. We know our workers are hurting. We know how important it is for us to remember the pandemic, to learn from those lessons, and to ensure that we are doing everything that we can to raise the floor for those workers.

But really, all workers in California. I saw yesterday in the news that there is an international treaty now being built around COVID so that we prepare for the next pandemic. And I think this is California's way of preparing and ensuring that we do the work that the Legislature and the Governor intended, and that's moving this Bill forward.

So, again, thank you so much, Senator Durazo, for your work. And with that, let's move the Bill. Please call the roll.

On SB 828, the motion is that the Assembly amendments be concurred in. [Roll call]

This Bill has a vote of three to zero, and it is on call, and we will make sure the Members vote when they return.

Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you to everyone who showed up to testify today. Thank you.

Thank you, Senator Durazo. Okay, we will go on a brief recess as we wait for our Senator to return to make his vote. Thanks.

Labor Committee is back in session. Senator Laird, we are going to take SB 828 off the roll and have you vote now. Assistant, will you call the roll?

On file item 828, the vote is 3-0, with the Chair voting aye. The motion is that Assembly amendments be concurred in. [Roll call]

Okay. With a vote of four to zero, that bill is out. And that concludes our Committee agenda for the day.