Santa Cruz Voters Considers Raising Minimum Wage to $9.25

Congress has repeatedly failed to bump up the minimum wage - since 1997 it has remained at $5.15 per hour. Since then, 19 states and at least 3 cities have raised base pay rates higher than the federal minimum, while scores more have enacted living wage laws for government contractors. This November, voters in Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Ohio will decide whether or not to raise their own hourly base pay. In Santa Cruz, California, the year's hottest election issue is Measure G, a city-wide proposal to raise the minimum wage to $9.25 per hour. FSRN's Vinny Lombardo examines the measure’s potential impacts on the local economy.