SACRAMENTO, Calif.- California's governor is signing a bill giving the most populous state the nation's highest statewide minimum wage.
Raising the base wage to $15 an hour by 2022, and a similar effort in New York, mark the most ambitious moves yet to close the national divide between rich and poor.
But Republicans and business groups say Gov. Jerry Brown's signing of the bill Monday could cost thousands of jobs.
A legislative analysis puts the ultimate cost to taxpayers at $3.6 billion a year in higher pay for government employees.
Democratic lawmakers approved the compromise legislation Thursday. SB3 passed with no Republican support.
The bill will bump the state's $10 hourly minimum by 50 cents next year and to $11 in 2018.
Hourly $1 raises will then come every January until 2022.
