This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Luis Alejo breaks campaign promise

The death of this year’s minimum wage proposal this week was not only an important development for business, but also illuminates the growing power of the Capitol’s Democratic, pro-business Latino Caucus.

Business groups were amazed -- and delighted -- to watch a proposed minimum wage hike to $13 an hour die in an Assembly labor committee, a chamber long considered union territory.

“We were stunned,” said Ken DeVore, the legislative director for the California chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business.

Find out what's happening in Santa Cruzwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Salinas Democrat Luis Alejo, author of last year’s bill that raised California’s minimum wage to $10, was one of two Democrats who abstained from the vote, effectively killing the bill.

Assemblyman Alejo said in an interview that raising minimum wage was his top priority upon entering the Assembly in 2010. His bill, which raises the state’s wage floor to $9 next week and will increase it again to $10 in 2016, took three years to push through the Legislature. It was a product of negotiations between the governor, business groups and organized labor.

Find out what's happening in Santa Cruzwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

But this year’s proposal to raise minimum wage again, Senate Bill 935 by Sen. Mark Leno, a San Francisco Democrat, would have violated the deal that was struck last year, said Alejo.

“When you’re trying to negotiate a deal and reach consensus, you have to keep your word,” he said.

It’s important to note that Alejo belongs to one of the biggest political developments in California since Republicans were knocked out of power in 2012 -- the Latino Caucus, an all-Democrat legislative body that continues to grow in stature amid the state’s demographic shift.

Demographers think earlier this year that Latinos eclipsed whites as California’s largest ethnic group, though hard data won't be available for months. Politically, Latinos promote the working class -- a bill by Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzales to bolster paid sick leave is gaining support as it moves through the Legislature -- but many also represent rural towns where the health of small business is a vital concern.

“I think Latino legislators bring a lot to the table. We have a diverse range within us,” Alejo said. “We need to strike a good balance for improving conditions for working people and helping grow jobs and business.”

These values represent a mixed bag for conservative business interest groups such as the NFIB. Latinos and other moderate Democrats are quickly becoming the dominant force in California politics, lobbyist DeVore said. They can push through policies by either siding with Republicans or liberal Democrats, and this week’s minimum wage failure further illustrates the shift in the state Democratic Party.

“If (Latinos and other moderates) understood the power they had, they would direct the policy of the state,” DeVore said.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?