When health care workers in California asked the state Legislature for a raise earlier this year, it seemed like the longest of long shots — especially after lawmakers in May had to loan hospitals in financial distress $150 million just to stay open.
But on Thursday, just before the Legislature adjourned for the year, lawmakers voted to boost the pay of health care workers to at least $25 per hour — and the California Hospital Association supported it, even issuing a joint news release with the labor union praising the bill. The union behind the effort called it the nation's first statewide minimum wage for health workers.
