On Dec. 29, the Save Our Local Restaurants PAC withdrew a veto referendum from the Nov. 5, 2024, ballot that would have repealed California Assembly Bill 257 (AB 257). AB 257 was designed to establish a 10-member fast food council authorized to adopt a minimum wage for fast food restaurant employees not to exceed $22 per hour.
This is the first veto referendum withdrawn under a new California law, Assembly Bill 421, passed in Sept. 2023. This law allows veto referendum proponents to withdraw their qualified referendum at least 131 days before the election or, when a referendum qualifies with less than 131 days before the election, when a petition is certified.
Save Our Local Restaurants announced on Sept. 11, 2023, that it had reached a compromise with state legislators under Assembly Bill 1228 (AB 1228). The bill will set a minimum wage of $20 per hour for limited-service restaurants that are part of a chain with more than 60 locations beginning on April 1, 2024. The bill also established a Fast Food Council with the authority to increase the hourly minimum wage annually by no more than the lesser of 3.5% or the change in inflation. Assembly Bill 257, the targeted legislation of the veto referendum, was also repealed with the passage of the compromise and the withdrawal of the veto referendum.
