Santa Clara County Close To Framing 'Living-Wage' Ordinance
SAN JOSE (KCBS)— With the framework close to being finished, Santa Clara County is moving forward with work on a living-wage ordinance, with a first step due in June.
It would take a pay rate of about $17 an hour, times two, for a husband and wife with two kids to make ends meet in Santa Clara County. Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese said that's a lot higher than the $9 an hour minimum wage set to go into effect this July in California, so the full board is looking into an ordinance.
Cortese expects there will be some opposition, but added that it's not enough to just create jobs— the wages have to be adequate.
Santa Clara County Close To Framing 'Living-Wage' Ordinance
"We don't want our contractors, vendors; people that we're dealing with on real-estate deals, taking tax-payer money and then underpaying people so that they end up having to come back into a CalWORKs [California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids] program, social services or general insistence," he said.
The county staff is scheduled to put together a framework in June with a final report due in early September. The ordinance could be adopted by the end of September.
