The results of an effort to gather enough voter signatures to undo the San Diego City Council's vote to raise the minimum wage or force a referendum on the issue likely will be released Thursday, the county's Registrar of Voters Michael Vu said Monday.
In July, the council voted to raise the minimum wage to $11.50 an hour by January 2017, with the first hike scheduled this January. The ordinance also requires employers to give workers five paid sick days annually.
Business groups that contend an increase in the minimum wage would make San Diego uncompetitive with neighboring cities submitted about 56,000 signatures with the registrar's office to be validated last month.
If nearly 34,000 signatures are validated, the council would be forced to repeal the ordinance or let voters decide the issue — by a special election or in the June 2016 primary election. Any increase in the minimum wage would be suspended until then.
Vu told City News Service that City Clerk Elizabeth Maland asked for each signature to be verified. The process is slower than usual, because a few thousand people asked for their names to be withdrawn, contending they were misled by paid signature-gatherers.
Thursday is the 30-day deadline for issuing results. Typically, the registrar's office bases the number of valid voters signatures on a sample checked against voter rolls.
The results will be delivered to Maland, who will make them public, Vu said. Maland said she expected to announce results Thursday but said it was possible she would have an answer Wednesday night.
San Diego's minimum wage is the same as the state's — $9 an hour. The statewide minimum wage is set to rise to $10 per hour in 2016.
Backers of an increase say the lowest-paid workers in San Diego could use the extra money. The sick leave provision would encourage minimum-wage employees, many of whom are involved in food preparation or come into contact with the public, to stay home when ill.
