City of San Jose
City Council will vote on Liccardo’s minimum wage study; proposed exemptions include youth under age of 18; homeless; parolees; and phase-in for small businesses
The City of San Jose leads the nation in job growth, yet the income gap continues to widen. Housing costs last year increased by 13.4%, while incomes remain stagnant. Other large cities on the West Coast, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, have passed minimum wage hikes that would achieve $15/hour within a few years. The City of San Jose wishes to study the impacts and benefits of a minimum wage hike.
The recommendation to the Council is to hire an independent economist or economics firm to assess the net economic benefit of a minimum wage increase; its net economic impact; likely aggregate job loss/creation; and a number of potential exemptions, including:
- Exempting youth under 18 and creating a “training wage” for that age group
- Exempting organizations employing persons in the “hard to employ” population (parolees, homeless, emancipated foster youth)
- Creating a “ramp up” period for small businesses to ease into the increase
- Exempting for the employment of verifiable immediate or extended family
Where: San Jose City Council
When: Sept. 15, 2015, 1:30pm
Link to item: http://sanjose.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=51&event_id=1464&meta_id=532358
Link to agenda: http://sanjose.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=51&event_id=1464
Liccardo criticizes City Clerk’s Office; asks for performance audit & recommends transferring duties away from City Clerk to City Attorney & City Manager
Mayor Liccardo states that repeated issues have been reported to his office and to the media relating to the difficulties that Councilmembers and candidates have had in getting reliable, accurate information from the Office of the Clerk relating to issues ranging from election-related rules to office budgets. Similarly, council offices have had considerable difficulty getting information about the status of their current budgets.
These problems raise questions about core competencies and of the allocation of responsibilities and resources within City Hall. Mayor Liccardo feels it appears more sensible to ensure that these responsibilities relating to interpreting laws and rules lie with the City Attorney’s office, and that the City Manager’s Budget Office’s employees handle budget questions.
Where: San Jose Rules and Open Government Committee
When: Sept. 9, 2015, 2:00pm
Link to item: https://sanjose.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?meta_id=532507
Link to agenda: http://sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/46073
Liccardo, Rocha, Carrasco, Kalra, Herrera call for gender/ethnicity pay equity ordinance
Two recommendations made relating to gender/ethnicity pay equity.
From Mayor Liccardo, Councilmembers Rocha, Carrasco, and Kalra: recommend a gender pay equity ordinance with applicability to City employees and/or City contractors, and assessment of current hiring and promotion practices with the goal of achieving gender and ethnicity pay equity, and ways to promote gender-equitable representation in recruitment of qualified candidates in executive and senior level positions.
Vicemayor Herrera echoes the recommendation for a pay equity ordinance, and also recommends adding to one of the Council’s Key Legislative Items—support for AB1707 (Campos) Gender Pay Equity.
Campos’ bill, AB1707, would prohibit employers from asking former employers for the salary an applicant made in their previous employment, which will help break the cycle of unequal pay that uses past salary as justification for low future salary.
Where: San Jose Rules and Open Government Committee
When: Sept. 9, 2015, 2:00pm
Link to item: https://sanjose.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?meta_id=532509
https://sanjose.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?meta_id=532511
Link to agenda: http://sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/46073
Amendments to SJ Municipal Code in response to large number of violations in 2014/2015
A list of amendments to San Jose Municipal Code has been proposed, in response to the large number of violations during the last two elections. The list includes:
- Clarifying terms in Title 12
- Giving candidates 90 days to close out campaign
- Treating the $500 campaign contribution limit separately for each segment of a special election consistent with the ordinance for a regular primary and general/run-off election
- Providing more flexibility with the $1000 minimum penalty for late-contribution reporting violations
- Explicitly calling out the filing deadline for those late contributions received in the 16-day period following the pre-election deadline and Election Day.
Where: San Jose Ethics Commission
When: Sept. 9, 2015, 5:30pm
Link to item: http://sanjose.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?meta_id=528158
Link to agenda: http://sanjoseca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/46000
Santa Clara County
Creating a County Economic Development Strategy
The Board tabled this item at its May 5, 2015 meeting and referred it to the Finance and Government Operations Committee.
Possible action: a.) Receive report from the Office of the County Executive relating to an Economic Development Strategy. b.) Forward Economic Development Mission and Guiding Principles to the Board of Supervisors for consideration.
Recommendation is to adopt Mission and Guiding Principles for a County Economic Development Strategy. They appear to be focusing primarily on achieving maximum revenue from County land and assets, along with supporting the Hispanic Chamber’s small business development center.
Where: Santa Clara County Finance & Government Operations Committee
When: Sept. 10, 2015, 1 pm
Link to item: http://sccgov.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_LegiFile.aspx?Frame=&MeetingID=6013&MediaPosition=&ID=76578&CssClass=
Link to agenda: http://sccgov.iqm2.com/Citizens/Detail_Meeting.aspx?ID=6013
Santa Clara Valley Water District
Special meeting re labor negotiations – CLOSES SESSION CONFERENCE
The Board will hold a special closed session meeting to discuss labor negotiations.
Where: Santa Clara Valley Water District
When: Sept. 9, 2015, 3 pm
Link to agenda: http://cf.valleywater.org/About_Us/Board_of_directors/Board_meetings/_2015_Published_Meetings/PublishedMeetings.htm
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