December 24, 2023

Minimum Wage of National Fast Food Chain Workers in Calfiornia to Increase to $20 on April 1, 2024

December 24, 2023/ Conejo Joe

Assembly Bill 1228 was signed by Governor Newsom on September 28, 2023. The bill authorizes, among other things, an increase in the minimum wage of employees at national fast food restaurants to $20 on April 1, 2024.

That’s a substantial increase in the current minimum wage for fast food workers, which as of January 1, 2024 will be $16 for California hourly employees (a 25% increase) and as of July 1, 2023 has been $16.90 for hourly employees in unincorporated Los Angeles County (an 18% increase). Ventura County hourly employees currently fall under the California minimum wage rate.

So does this mean that ALL fast food workers in California will automatically start earning at least $20 per hour next April? No. It applies to workers at “national fast food chains,” which is defined as “a set of limited-service restaurants consisting of more than 60 establishments nationally that share a common brand, or that are characterized by standardized options for decor, marketing, packaging, products, and services, and which are primarily engaged in providing food and beverages for immediate consumption on or off premises where patrons generally order or select items and pay before consuming, with limited or no table service."

Bakeries gets a break. “Fast food restaurant” shall not include an establishment that on September 15, 2023, operates a bakery that produces for sale on the establishment’s premises bread, as defined under Part 136 of Subchapter B of Chapter I of Title 21 of the Code of Federal Regulations, so long as it continues to operate such a bakery. This exemption applies only where the establishment produces for sale bread as a stand-alone menu item, and does not apply if the bread is available for sale solely as part of another menu item."

AB 1228 goes on to state that the hourly minimum wage may increase annually by the lesser of 3.5% or inflation over the the most recent July 1 to June 30 period.

So some additional questions come to mind:

If a chain has 60+ establishments but they are only based in California, does this represent a “national fast food chain” under AB 1228? My suspicion is yes.
How will AB 1228 impact fast food eateries with 59 or less locations? Why would someone want to continue earning $15.50 at a smaller chain when they could work at Taco Bell or Burger King and earn $20? It would seem that although the law is written for larger chains, clearly it will impact all fast food eateries in the state.
How will AB 1228 impact other minimum wage jobs? As with smaller eateries, it would seem that all minimum wage jobs will be indirectly impacted by AB 1228. A $4 per hour difference between entry level fast food jobs and other minimum wage jobs is significant.

Read the entire bill at https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240AB1228.

June 03, 2023

California Minimum Wages Increased to $15.50 Per Hour on January 1, 2023

June 03, 2023/ Conejo Joe

Effective January 1, 2023, the minimum wage for all California hourly employees is $15.50 per hour, up from $15 per hour for employers of 26 or more and $14 per hour for employers of 25 or less in 2022.

The federal minimum wage for 2023 is still $7.25, a rate unchanged since it became effective on July 24, 2009.

California minimum wage rates apply to Ventura County residents.

The City of Los Angeles minimum wage rate has been $16.04 per hour since July 1, 2022. Each year, the minimum wage is adjusted for inflation; the adjusted rate is announced on February 1st of each year and becomes effective on July 1st of each year. The city’s 2023 minimum wage rate increases to $16.78 effective July 1, 2023. See wagesla.lacity.org.

The County of Los Angeles minimum wage rate became $15.96 per hour effective July 1, 2022 and increases to $16.90 per hour starting July 1, 2023. See dcba.lacounty.gov/minimum-wage-for-businesses.

Why the City of Los Angeles and County of Los Angeles can’t align their rates to be the same is beyond me.

Looking for a higher minimum wage? Move to San Francisco, where the rate has been $16.99 per hour since July 1, 2022 and will be adjusted for inflation again on July 1, 2023 to $18.07 per hour. See sf.gov/information/understanding-minimum-wage-ordinance.

Or better yet, the City of Emeryville, CA minimum wage effective July 1, 2022 became $17.68 and increases to $18.67 on July 1, 2023. See www.ci.emeryville.ca.us/1024/Minimum-Wage-Ordinance.

The highest city minimum wage rate in the country in 2023 is $18.69 per hour for employers in Seattle, Washington. www.seattle.gov/laborstandards/ordinances/minimum-wage

Looking for states with minimum wages set at the federal rate of $7.25/hour? That would be Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

California’s minimum wage rate in 2022 was the third highest in the country. Washington D.C. is at $16.50 per hour, increasing to $17 per hour on July 1, 2023. The state of Washington is at $15.74 per hour for workers 16 and older. Massachusetts is currently at $15 per hour effective January 1, 2023. www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-law-about-minimum-wage

October 30, 2022

Registered Voters in Ventura County in October 2022 vs May 2022

October 30, 2022/ Conejo Joe

The Ventura County Registrar of Voters website has up to date counts showing the number of registered voters in Ventura County. From time to time we like to take a look at that data and compare it to prior years.

On October 29, 2022, there were 504,897 registered voters in Ventura County, a slight drop of 1,131 registered voters as of May 11, 2022. Here is the breakdown by affiliation:

220,697 Democrats (a 741 voter increase in 5 months) (43.7% of all registered voters)
141,852 Republicans (a 1,375 voter decrease) (28.1% of all registered voters)
104,542 Nonpartisans (a 1,419 voter decrease) (20.7% of all registered voters)
37,806 Other (a 922 voter decrease) (7.5% of all registered voters)

In May 2019, there were 445,217 registered voters, including:

176,712 Democrats
130,228 Republicans
110,225 Nonpartisans
28,052 Other

On May 12, 2012, there were 406,644 registered voters in Ventura County, consisting of:

157,539 Democrats
150,919 Republicans
77,994 Nonpartisans
20,192 Other

Can’t remember if you are eligible to vote? Look it up at THIS LINK. What I’ve found with this Voter Eligibility Search function is that, unlike a search engine, your search terms have to be precise. If you are registered as Richard King, if you type Rich King into the search, it will not find you.

September 11, 2022

The California "Middle Class Tax Refund" Will Be Paid Out in October 2022 through January 2023

September 11, 2022/ Conejo Joe

The State of California will be issuing tax refunds totaling about $9.5 billion to approximately 23 million Californians starting mid-October through mid-January 2023. This refund is called the Middle Class Tax Refund and was included in the $308 billion California state budget for the fiscal year July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023.

The Middle Class Tax Refund payout will be as much as $1,050 per household, based on 2020 California “adjusted gross income” (CA AGI) on your tax return.

Qualifications:

Must have filed your 2020 tax return by October 15, 2021
Must have CA AGI that falls below certain parameters (shown below)
Have been a CA resident for at least 6 months in 2020
Was not eligible to be claimed as a dependent in 2020
Must be a CA resident on the date the payment is issued

Payment Amounts on Married Filing Joint Tax Returns:

CA AGI $150,000 or less: $1050 with dependent; $700 without dependent
CA AGI $150,001 to $250,000: $750 with dependent; $500 without dependent
CA AGI $250,001 to $500,000: $600 with dependent; $400 without dependent

(So let me get this straight. Our government is going to cut a check for $400 to a couple without kids who earned $500,000 in 2020. Mastro’s is going to be busy!)

Payment Amounts on Head of Household Tax Returns:

CA AGI $150,000 or less: $700 with dependent; $350 without dependent
CA AGI $150,001 to $250,000: $500 with dependent; $250 without dependent
CA AGI $250,001 to $500,000: $400 with dependent; $200 without dependent

Payment Amounts on Single and Married Filing Separate Tax Returns:

CA AGI $75,000 or less: $700 with dependent; $350 without dependent
CA AGI $75,001 to $125,000: $500 with dependent; $250 without dependent
CA AGI $125,001 to $250,000: $400 with dependent; $200 without dependent

How Payments Will Be Received

If you filed electrically and used the direct deposit option on your return (assuming you had a refund), your payment will be received by direct deposit.
Otherwise you’ll be paid via debit card.

For more information, visit the Franchise Tax Board “Middle Class Tax Refund” page at taxrefund.ca.gov.

Questions That Come to Mind (that are not addressed by the Franchise Tax Board):

What happens if your banking information changed since then? Don’t know for sure but I suspect the payment would bounce and they would send you a debit card.
What happens if your filing status changed from 2020 to today? For example, I was married in 2020 and filed jointly but am single and available (hint hint) today in 2022? Who gets our $1,050 (married, one dependent)? Me or my ex-spouse? Good question. No idea. The FTB did not provide alternative scenarios, so I’d imagine the primary spouse on the return will receive the payment.. You might have to track down the ex for your half.
I was single in 2020 but am married today with a toddler. How much do I get? The FTB bases the payment on your filing status in 2020, so both you and your spouse will receive payments, if any, based on that.
What happens if I lose the gift card? Well, you’ll have to bring that up with the FTB. Good luck! Best advice - don’t lose it.
I didn’t file a tax return in 2020 because my gross income and CA AGI were less than the filing requirements published by the Franchise Tax Board. Otherwise, I met all the other requirements for the refund. How can I get it? Unless the FTB amends its initial rules to address your situation, it appears you are out of luck. But visit the taxrefund.ca.gov website for possible updates.
I made $17.50 an hour at The Taco Shack in 2020 and will receive a $350 refund. My brother George pulled down $250,000 in 2020 as VP of Stuff at Bookoo Bucko, Inc. and will receive $200. How is that fair? Does that make any sense? Pretty much no, but let’s look at it in a different way. You’re getting 20 hours’ pay. George is only getting a couple hours’ pay. Feel better now?
I think this whole thing is stupid. The entire $9.5 billion should be used to fund nine desalinization plants along the California coast. How do I tell them to keep the money as I think this is a waste? I don’t think there’s a mechanism in place to not take the refund. But if it’s burning a hole in your pocket, hit the CVG Tip Jar at bit.ly/SupportCVG!

July 28, 2022

The Largest Mega Millions Jackpots to Date and Other Mega Millions Information

July 28, 2022/ Conejo Joe

Tomorrow (July 29, 2022) night’s Mega Millions drawing is estimated at $1.1 billion (update: $1.28 billion), making it the 2nd largest Mega Millions jackpot of all time. The Top 10 Mega Millions jackpots to date are as follows:

$1.537 billion - 10/23/18 - Winning ticket in South Carolina. (5, 28, 62, 65, 70 and 05)
$1.28 billion - 7/29/22 - And if no one wins it, it will be even higher on 8/2/22.
$1.050 billion - 1/22/21 - Winning ticket in Michigan (4, 26, 42, 50, 60 and 24)
$656 million - 3/30/12 - Winning tickets in Illinois, Kansas, Maryland (2, 4, 23, 38, 46 and 23)
$648 million - 12/17/13 - Winning tickets in California, Georgia (8, 14, 17, 20, 39 and 7)
$543 million - 7/24/18 - Winning ticket in California (1, 2, 4, 19, 29 and 20)
$536 million - 7/8/16 - Winning ticket in Indiana (8, 19, 20, 55, 73 and 5)
$533 million - 3/30/18 - Winning ticket in New Jersey (11, 28, 31, 46, 59 and 1)
$522 million - 6/7/19 - Winning ticket in California (17, 19, 27, 40, 68 and 2)
$516 million - 5/21/21 - Winning ticket in Pennsylvania (6, 9, 17, 18, 48 and 8)

Mega Millions is sold in 45 states, Washington D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The five states that do not participate are Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah.

Locally, Kristine Wellerstein won a $426 million ($292.9 million cash) Mega Millions drawing with a ticket purchased in Woodland Hills on 1/28/22.

On 7/16/10, Zahra Vasseghi of Agoura Hills split a $64 million Mega Millions jackpot with a co-worker. Read about her story at nspyr.com/thevasseghifamilystory/index.html (you won’t regret it).

In Mega Millions, you pick five different numbers ranging from 1 to 70 and one number (the gold Mega Ball) from 1 to 25. The jackpot is hitting all 6 numbers, which is a 1 in 302,575,350 chance. You have a 1 in 37 chance of hitting just the Mega Ball, worth a $2 return of your money.

If you win the Mega Millions jackpot, you can either take one up-front payment that is equal to all the cash in the jackpot price pool (which in tomorrow’s case is $648.2 million vs the estimated $1.1 billion full jackpot) or you can take the annuity option.

The annuity option is not the entire amount divided by 30 years. It starts out at about 1.5% of the total jackpot and increases each year by 5%. So for example, if you win the $1.1 billion jackpot, in the annuity option, you would receive about $16.5 million immediately, followed by $17.3 million in year 2, $18.2 million in year 3, $19.1 million in year 4, and so on.

Good luck! www.megamillions.com

July 23, 2022

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Case Tallies and Deaths in Ventura County, California and the World (2022)

July 23, 2022/ Conejo Joe

This page will be updated periodically with information on Ventura County area cases from www.venturacountyrecovers.org, U.S. cases from the CDC and global cases from the World Health Organization (WHO).

This post covers statistics in 2022. 2020 case tallies are at THIS LINK and 2021 are at THIS LINK.

Note that previously reported case counts are subject to changes and updates. We report initial case counts reported on these sites that in particular in the global stats change over time. For more accurate up to date counts at the global level, visit the WHO website at who.sprinklr.com.