California would establish the nation’s highest statewide minimum wage if voters approve a ballot initiative raising it to $18, as one of a half dozen states sending wage and paid sick time proposals to voters next month.
Supporters of ballot proposals to raise the statewide wage floors in Alaska (Measure 1), California (Prop. 32), and Missouri (Prop. A) have reason for optimism. US voters haven’t rejected a statewide minimum wage ballot proposal in more than 20 years, even in Republican-leaning states such as Florida and Nebraska, where voters in 2020 and 2022 approved plans ...