In many states, the 2024 election saw citizens voting for more than just presidential candidates; contentious races for House of Representatives and Senate seats cropped up across the nation, and state and local measures on high-importance issues held places on ballots nationwide.
While some cities or states saw proposals related to issues like abortion, taxes and local infrastructure, others saw propositions related to workers’ rights and wages. Alaska, Arizona, California, Massachusetts and Missouri were among them.
The propositions—mostly focused around increasing the states’ minimum wages—saw varying success throughout the country.
California Prop 32
Perhaps the most widely discussed minimum wage proposal was California’s Proposition 32, which would have increased that state’s minimum wage to $18 an hour.
If the proposition had passed, it would have made California’s minimum wage the highest in the nation; the minimum wage would have immediately increased to $17 an hour for all companies with more than 25 employees. On January 1 the wage would have climbed further to $18 an hour for those companies. For companies with fewer than 25 employees, the $17 an hour minimum would have taken effect on January 1, and the $18 an hour minimum would have gone into force on January 1, 2026. It also would have provided cost-of-living increases to the minimum wage on an annual basis, based on the consumer price index (CPI) with a cap of 3.5 percent.
However, the state’s proposition, which lacked support from the California Chamber of Commerce, failed in a vote with razor-thin margins. As of Nov. 21, 100 percent of votes had been reported, and 50.8 percent of Californians voted “no” on the proposition; 49.2 percent had voted “yes.”
Before the election, the chamber said Prop 32 would “lead to higher costs, fewer jobs and a reduction of available work hours for employees in the state.”
Jennifer Barrera, president and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce, said the organization was glad to see the results.
“CalChamber opposed Prop. 32 because it would have resulted in higher costs for small business employers and consumers,” Barrera said in a statement. “With the economy and costs top of mind for many voters this election, that message appears to have resonated.”
The vote’s failure comes on the heels of a statewide minimum wage increase for fast-food workers to $20, which Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law in April.
Alaska Measure 1
Voters in Alaska approved a measure on the ballot that will increase minimum wage to $15 an hour by July 1, 2027. The measure also ensures employers of 15 or more give their employees the chance to accrue paid sick time—up to 56 hours annually. For companies with fewer than 15 employees, the paid sick time accrual allotment drops to 40 hours annually.
Nearly 58 percent of Alaskans voted “yes” on the measure, while just over 42 percent voted “no.”
On July 1, 2025, the minimum wage will increase to $13 an hour; in July 2026, it will go up to $14 an hour and will reach the full $15 promised in July 2027. Similar to California’s failed Prop 32, Alaska’s Measure 1 provides that the wages will be reevaluated and adjusted annually after 2027 based on cost of living.
Like those who were anti-Prop 32 in California, those who opposed Alaska’s Measure 1 cited the potential for the requirements to hurt small business, pass increased costs onto consumers in an area where the cost of living exceeds that of many other areas in the United States and reduce the number of Alaskans in the workforce.
In an opinion piece penned for the Alaska Beacon, the heads of several trade groups and the Alaska Chamber voiced their dissent for the measure prior to the election.
“Organizations like ours are sounding the alarm because we understand what’s at stake for the businesses and workers we represent. Alaskans deserve better than this one-size-fits-all approach that fails to address the unique challenges we face. We need policies that support both employers and employees, not measures that drive up costs and hurt the people they mean to help,” they wrote at the time.
Meanwhile, proponents of the measure argued that it would bring Alaskans’ wages to parity with other West Coast states; Alaska’s current minimum wage of $11.73, the lowest among nearby states like California, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii.
Missouri Prop A
Like Alaska, Missouri voters were presented with a proposal that bundled provisions for paid sick time with an increase in minimum wages.
Proposition A put forth the chance for Missouri residents to see the state minimum wage increase to $13.75 on January 1, 2025, with an additional increase to $15 an hour at the outset of 2026. The minimum wage in the state today is $12.30.
The proposal also stated that employers would be required to provide one hour of accrued sick time for every 30 hours an employee worked. Unlike Alaska’s sick time measure, Proposition A did not include a cap on that sick time.
On Election Day, voters passed Proposition A—57.6 percent of Missouri residents voted “yes,” and 42.4 percent voted “no.” The state’s three Democratic strongholds, the cities of St. Louis, Columbia and Kansas City—as well as their surrounding areas—brought in a large proportion of the votes. People in those areas also voted at a higher rate for Vice President Kamala Harris. However, the state’s southeast corner also voted heavily in favor of Proposition A, despite a majority also voting for President-elect Donald Trump.
The proponents and opponents of Proposition A shared similar sentiments to the labor group leaders and trade groups in California and Alaska.
Massachusetts Question 5
While Alaska, California and Missouri’s ballot measures focused on the at-large minimum wages in those states, Massachusetts and Arizona had measures focused on tipped workers’ minimum wages on the ballot.
Massachusetts’ proposal, called Question 5, would have incrementally increased tipped workers’ minimum wages until they reached the state minimum wage—currently $15—in 2029. According to the measure, tipped workers would have been able to earn tips on top of that. The minimum wage for tipped workers in Massachusetts today stands at $6.75, provided that the tips they make bring their average wage for the day to the state minimum wage of $15 an hour. If the tips do not fill that gap, the employer must pay the employee the difference.
The proposal failed overwhelmingly in the blue state, with 64.4 percent of Massachusetts residents voting “no,” and 35.6 percent voting “yes.”
Question 5 faced serious opposition from a variety of groups and individuals, including Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy, who called the measure “a well-intentioned effort brought by out-of-state interests” in an interview with Boston Public Radio.
The “interests” Healy referred to come from nationwide labor group One Fair Wage, which is leveraging its resources to launch similar campaigns in various states. The group’s Massachusetts campaign page notes that low wages are a significant driver for workers leaving Massachusetts’ restaurant industry. While Question 5 was one attempt to bridge the gap the group says the state has, it is also working with state politicians on legislation around the minimum wages.
Arizona Prop 138
Voters in Arizona faced a more complicated proposal than those in Massachusetts when it came to tipped wages. Proposition 138 stated that, if passed, it would “allow an employer, for any employee who customarily and regularly receives tips or gratuities, to pay up to 25 percent per hour less than the minimum wage, if the employer can establish that the employee is paid at least the minimum wage plus $2.00 per hour for all hours worked.”
Simply put, that means that, unless tipped workers were making at least $16.35 hourly when including their tips, employers would be required to pay them the state minimum wage of $14.35, then allow them to earn tips on top of that.
Today, Arizona law stipulates that as long as it can be proven that an employee makes at least the minimum wage when including their tips, an employer can pay that person up to $3 less per hour. That means that rather than adding tips on top of their wages, employees are left to bridge the gap between $11.35 and $14.35 with their tips. Prop 138 would have made that threshold higher, in turn making it more likely that employers would have been required to pay tipped employees the full minimum wage.
Ultimately, Prop 138 failed, with just under three-quarters of residents voting “no,” and just over 25 percent of Arizonans voting “yes.”
The Arizona Restaurant Association, Save Our Tips AZ and the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Phoenix were among the groups who wrote to Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs in support of the now-failed proposal.
Danny Seiden, president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Phoenix, said the chamber strongly supported the passage of Prop 138, which he argued would have been an improvement for workers, the economy and small business owners alike.
“This measure strikes the right balance between fair wages for employees and economic viability for businesses. Voting yes on this measure will ensure that tipped workers receive fair compensation while supporting the continued growth and success of our local economy,” he wrote in correspondence to Hobbs.
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