As he’d promised, Mayor Kevin Faulconer on Aug. 8 vetoed the City Council-approved ordinance that would incrementally increase the minimum wage in San Diego to $11.50 by 2017 and mandate that employers offer five paid sick days to workers each year.
City Council, which on July 14 had passed the ordinance 6-3 along party lines, now has within 30 days to consider an override. Council is on August recess and reconvenes on Sept. 8. “Today,” Faulconer said at an Aug. 8 news conference, “I’m vetoing the City Council’s wage ordinance because we need these and other small businesses to thrive. This wage ordinance would make it harder for them to hire and employ San Diegans who need work.”
It would take at least a 6-3 council vote — two-thirds or more — to override the veto.
“When 38 percent of San Diego workers don’t earn enough to make ends meet, something must be done,” council president Todd Gloria said. “That is why the mayor’s veto of this reasonable, common-sense measure is disappointing.”
If none of the council members change their previous votes, it could set the stage for a referendum. Republicans Mark Kersey, Lorie Zapf and Scott Sherman voted against the measure in July. Local businesses interests have recently qualified two referendums, forcing the Democrat council majority to repeal one of its actions and place the other before a public vote. Gloria originally proposed having residents vote on the minimum wage in November, but the council majority wanted to adopt the wage hike directly.
Meanwhile, a poll conducted July 31 to Aug. 4 by Greenburg Quinlan Rosner Research found that 63 percent of likely San Diego voters support the council-approved ordinance; 59 percent reported that they would vote against repealing the ordinance; and 41 percent say that they would be less likely to support Faulconer if he proceeds with a veto of the ordinance.
The poll surveyed 500 registered voters and has a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.