Six members of the Los Angeles City Council launched an effort Tuesday to take the city's minimum wage to $15.25 by 2019, a move that would be more aggressive than the pay strategy backed by Mayor Eric Garcetti several weeks ago.
The proposal calls for the city's lawyers to draft an ordinance hiking the citywide minimum wage to $13.25 by 2017. That's in line with Garcetti's proposal, unveiled last month.
Where the two proposals diverge is in what happens next.
Garcetti had called for the minimum wage to continue to go up annually starting in 2018 by a rate tied to inflation. The six council members -- Curren Price, Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo, Mike Bonin, Paul Koretz and Paul Krekorian -- have asked for a study on how to hike the minimum wage by another 15% two years later, taking it to $15.25 by 2019.
Martinez, who represents part of the San Fernando Valley, called the study a "first step" toward the higher wage. “If it’s not having any negative impact, we should look at increasing it to $15.25 by 2019,” she said.
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