{"id":1633584,"date":"2022-09-06T07:17:59","date_gmt":"2022-09-06T11:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1633584"},"modified":"2022-09-06T07:18:04","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T11:18:04","slug":"this-california-bill-would-outlaw-fast-food-and-intensify-inflation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/this-california-bill-would-outlaw-fast-food-and-intensify-inflation\/","title":{"rendered":"This California Bill Would Outlaw Fast Food And Intensify Inflation"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthis-california-bill-would-outlaw-fast-food-and-intensify-inflation%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1633584&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Talk about irony: A governor who <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/11\/17\/california-governor-breaks-his-own-covid-rules-to-eat-fancy-french-food-while-americans-go-hungry-in-lockdown\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">violated his own Covid lockdown rules<\/a> by attending a party at a chichi restaurant could sign legislation that puts many fast-food establishments out of business.<\/p>\n<p>Late in August, the California legislature passed <a href=\"https:\/\/leginfo.legislature.ca.gov\/faces\/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB257\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a bill<\/a> that would impose new mandates on certain dining establishments. Gov. Gavin Newsom, D-<a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2020\/11\/17\/california-governor-breaks-his-own-covid-rules-to-eat-fancy-french-food-while-americans-go-hungry-in-lockdown\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">French Laundry<\/a>, has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto the bill. If it becomes law, the measure would set an example that unions <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/california-fast-food-wages-would-be-set-by-government-under-bill-passed-by-state-senate-11661811509\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">hope to export elsewhere<\/a>, while raising inflation in the nation\u2019s most populous state. Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Separate Minimum Wage<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The bill would create a council to mandate a separate minimum wage applying only to certain fast-food establishments. According to the bill, the council could impose a minimum wage for these establishments next year of as high as $22 per hour\u2014an amount nearly 42 percent higher than the statewide minimum wage of $15.50 that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/california-fast-food-wages-would-be-set-by-government-under-bill-passed-by-state-senate-11661811509\">takes effect on Jan. 1<\/a>, and an amount subject to additional annual increases.<\/p>\n<p>Creating a higher minimum wage would raise business costs, and help push prices ever higher. As it is, families have struggled to keep up with the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/26\/bidens-economic-delusions-and-deceptions-snub-struggling-families\/\">current high rate of inflation<\/a>, with real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) average hourly earnings <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/news.release\/archives\/realer_07132022.pdf\">falling in most months<\/a> over the past year. Hitting these families with even higher costs for a meal at a fast-food establishment\u2014sometimes the only \u201cluxury\u201d working-class households can afford\u2014would provide ordinary California residents another proverbial kick in the teeth.<\/p>\n<p>The new council of 10 appointed individuals will \u201cestablish sector-wide minimum standards on wages, working hours, and other working conditions adequate to ensure and maintain the health, safety, and welfare of, and to supply the necessary cost of proper living to, fast food restaurant workers.\u201d (The bill doesn\u2019t specify whether the \u201ccost of proper living\u201d includes dinners at restaurants like the one Newsom decided to frequent in the fall of 2020.)<\/p>\n<p>To put it more bluntly: A group of unelected bureaucrats will decide how to micro-manage hundreds of businesses across the Golden State. These mandates will of course raise costs for the restaurants, and the restaurants will have no choice but to raise prices in response.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Inefficient, Absurd Loopholes<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The requirements in the bill only apply to chain restaurants with at least 100 establishments nationwide, and which serve food in the following manner:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>(1)\u00a0For immediate consumption either on or off the premises.<\/p>\n<p>(2)\u00a0To customers who order or select items and pay before eating.<\/p>\n<p>(3)\u00a0With items prepared in advance, including items that may be prepared in bulk and kept hot, or with items prepared or heated quickly.<\/p>\n<p>(4)\u00a0With limited or no table service. Table service does not include orders placed by a customer on an electronic device.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>One could easily envision businesses changing their model to avoid becoming ensnared by the bill\u2019s mandates. For instance, a restaurant could operate like <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Katz%27s_Delicatessen#Tickets\">Katz\u2019s Delicatessen in New York City<\/a>, where customers receive tickets upon entering and pay <em>after<\/em> eating, on their way out the door. Such a system would mean that restaurants would not meet the \u201cpay before eating\u201d definition contained within the statute, but it also could raise the risk of \u201cdine-and-dash\u201d incidents, which would raise a restaurant\u2019s costs.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, establishments could try to exempt themselves from the reach of the new council by providing full table service. Of course, providing full table service would raise businesses\u2019 costs (although perhaps not as much as complying with the mandates created by the new regulatory regime), exhaust employees by forcing them to wait on customer tables in addition to their existing duties, or both.<\/p>\n<p>The idea that California could potentially do for fast-food restaurants what a full-service-only requirement has done to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/03\/31\/nyregion\/new-jersey-gas-pumping.html\">New Jersey\u2019s gas stations<\/a>\u2014whereby McDonald\u2019s and Burger King employees in California could only ask \u201cWould you like fries with that?\u201d while customers are reclined at table\u2014illustrates the absurdity of this bill. Newsom should do his state a favor and veto the measure, sending this ill-tasting legislative creation back to the cooks in the legislature who created this mess.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Chris Jacobs is founder and CEO of Juniper Research Group, and author of the book, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/dp\/1645720020\">The Case Against Single Payer<\/a>.&#8221; He is on Twitter: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/chrisjacobshc\">@chrisjacobsHC<\/a>. Previously he was a senior health policy analyst for the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a senior policy analyst in The Heritage Foundation\u2019s Center for Health Policy Studies, and a senior policy analyst with the Joint Economic Committee\u2019s Senate Republican staff. During the debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare, Jacobs was a policy adviser for the House Republican Conference under then-Chairman Mike Pence. In the first two years of the law\u2019s implementation, he was a health policy analyst for the Senate Republican Policy Committee. Jacobs got his start on Capitol Hill as an intern for then-Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.). He holds a bachelor\u2019s degree in political science and history from American University, where he is a part-time teacher of health policy. He currently resides in Washington, D.C.<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Talk about irony: A governor who violated his own Covid lockdown rules by attending a party at a chichi restaurant could sign legislation that puts many fast-food establishments out of<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1633584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1633584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1633584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1633584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1633584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1633584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1633584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}