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Not So Fast My Friend: California’s FAST Recovery Act Meets Resistance


Readers might recall that earlier this year, California had passed the FAST Recovery Act which would create a fast food council that would be able to set wage rates and working conditions in the fast food industry.  

That legislation, AB 257, was met with considerable pushback before being signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom on September 5th.  Employers and related business groups opposed the legislation on the grounds that the council, comprised of unelected officials, would be able to set the wage rate for fast food workers to $22/hour by 2023 and impose further wage hikes at their discretion.

Although AB 257 was signed into law, opposition continued to mount with Save Local Restaurants being formed to find ways to stop AB 257 from taking effect.  In doing so, that required this group to submit 623,212 signatures to the California Secretary of State to get a ballot measure on the 2024 ballot.  The goal of this group is to get voters to repeal the FAST Recovery Act.  

According to reports, the Save Local Restaurants group submitted more than 1 million signatures to the Secretary of State in an effort to get the measure on the 2024 ballot.  While that is not certain to happen, submitting more than the required number of signatures gives the group some breathing room if the Secretary of State throws out some signatures upon review.

For the time being, this is a developing story to keep a close eye on while we await confirmation from the Secretary of State that the minimum number of signatures have been submitted and accepted.


For additional information:  https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/restaurant-groups-push-overturn-california-fast-food-wage-law

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