LA County Supervisors Propose Higher Minimum Wage For Hotel, Theme Park Workers

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors next month will consider a proposal that would raise the minimum wage for theme park and hotel workers in unincorporated LA County to $25 per hour.

The move comes as the cities of Los Angeles and Long Beach weigh similar regulations, the City News Service reported.

"We know at the end of the day that many employers are paying their workers wages that are too low for them to make ends meet in LA County," Supervisor Janice Hahn, who introduced the motion, said at the supervisors' meeting Wednesday. "It's low wages that are driving poverty and that is a leading factor in homelessness and housing insecurity."

Too many people who work full time can't afford to rent in the county where they work, Hahn said during the meeting. A lucrative industry like tourism should be paying its employees enough so that they can afford to live here, she added. 

If approved, the motion, co-authored by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, would raise the minimum wage from its current $16.90 per hour. And, as proposed, minimum wage for these workers would increase to $30 per hour by 2028, when the city will host the Olympics, with cost-of-living increases after that.

The new rules would apply to workers at Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City and Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, according to the Los Angeles Times. Employees of hotels with more than 60 rooms would also receive the pay bump.

Hahn said she expects pushback and emphasized that this motion will not be heard by the supervisors until Sept. 12, when the supervisors return from recess. With a little over a month lead time, Hahn said she wanted to give everyone who might be impacted time to weigh in. 

Hotel industry groups have already come out against the move.

“Maybe the supervisors can pay their county staff a minimum wage of $25 an hour first,” Hotel Association of Los Angeles President and CEO Heather Rozman told the LA Times in a statement. “It’s disappointing that one special interest is proposing ordinances through the Los Angeles region that would have a devastating impact on small business and local government tax revenue. Instead of focusing on a small percentage of workers, leaders in this region should develop a holistic solution to our affordability crisis that will benefit all.”