Santa Cruz, CA Ordinance Pertaining to the Payment of a Living Wage

Santa Cruz, CA, US

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Type: Ordinance

Status: Adopted in 2000

Source File: http://www.ci.santa-cruz.ca.us/fn/PDF/LivingWageOrdinance.pdf

Findings and Purpose:

5.10.010 FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

In enacting this chapter the city council makes the following findings and articulates the following purposes for the promulgation of the living wage regulations set forth herein:
1. The health and welfare of all Santa Cruz citizens is benefited and advanced when Santa Cruz workers are paid a wage which enables them to live above the poverty line;

2. The city awards many contracts to private sector employers to provide goods and services to the city in accordance with those contracts;

3. Many workers in Santa Cruz and their families live at or below the poverty line. The payment of inadequate wages to those workers tends to negatively affect the quality of services provided to the city and its residents by fostering high turnover and instability in the workplace;

4. The use of city funds to promote the creation of a living wage will increase the ability of low wage workers to attain sustenance, decrease the amount of poverty and reduce the amount of taxpayer funded social services provided in the city of Santa Cruz;

5. Some employers which provide contract services to the city do not provide health insurance benefits to their employees. This factor negatively affects worker performance and the quality of services delivered to the city and its residents, results in unwarranted employee absenteeism and negatively impacts local and State health programs. These problems can be ameliorated if employers provide reasonable health insurance benefits to their employees;

6. City regulations requiring the payment of a living wage are consistent with other city regulations such as the city's prevailing wage regulations designed to address the economic needs of low wage workers in the city;

7. The expenditure of public funds for the procurement and provision of services is conducted most responsibly when the expenditure promotes a community economic standard intended to assure that city workers, including single parents, and their families can subsist above the poverty line; and

8. The use of city funds to encourage living wage jobs will decrease poverty, increase consumer income and invigorate neighborhood businesses.

9. The living wage requirement shall apply to social service agencies receiving $5,000.00 or more in annual support from the city of Santa Cruz. However, this requirement shall not take effect until the city council amends this ordinance and/or passes a policy resolution clarifying how the ordinance will be applied to such agencies.