Proposed Raises for Low-Wage Workers Postponed for Review

A widely watched proposal that city contract-holders and firms getting taxpayer assistance be required to raise pay and benefits for their low-wage employees stalled Tuesday when a special Los Angeles City Council panel ordered yet another analysis of the measure.

Councilman Richard Alatorre, who headed the joint meeting of the council’s Personnel and Budget and Finance committees, said the panel will delay further consideration of the controversial proposal until city fiscal and policy analysts can review a city-commissioned study by researchers at UCLA and Carleton College in Minnesota.

The committee also asked for a staff analysis of the proposed ordinance, including legal questions, after the city attorney’s office advised that parts of it might not withstand a court challenge. The review will take at least two weeks, a city analyst said.

The delay sparked a tense exchange between Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg, whose Personnel Committee has been working on the measure for months, and Alatorre and Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who said he wants “a higher level of comfort” with the proposal’s likely effects before it goes to the full council.

Under a compromise drawn from the city-commissioned report, the measure would require firms to pay at least $7.25 an hour with family health insurance, or $8.50 with no insurance or other benefits.