Gov. Jerry Brown had been reluctant to revisit raising California's minimum wage, in spite of multiple recent attempts by legislators and unions to bring him around. The state had increased the wage in 2013, and now workers were getting a minimum of $10 an hour.
Brown urged caution and warned of the effect of an additional $4 billion burden on the state's budget.
All that changed this week when legislation gradually increasing the state minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2023 sailed through both houses of the Legislature in what may have been record time. The governor said he would put his signature on the bill Monday.
What changed his mind?
On KPBS Midday Edition on Friday, Sacramento-based reporters Katie Orr of KQED and Chris Cadelago of The Sacramento Bee analyze the effects of public opinion and of the willingness of the unions to take an increase to the ballot box on Brown's turn-around.
