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The Consequences of California's Fast-Food Wage Law

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The Consequences of California's Fast-Food Wage Law


It’s been about two months since the new California fast-food worker minimum wage law went into effect. Restaurant owners immediately felt the effects. Right out of the gate restaurant locations shut down. On April 1st a Fosters Freeze in Lemoore, which is over 30 miles south of Fresno, closed their restaurant. The employees thought it was an April Fool’s joke but it was very much real. The owner handed out their final paychecks. The location had been in Leemore for over 35 years. The gloves need to come off before more restaurants go out of business.

The governor of California signed the California Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act or FAST Act in September 2023. It raised the fast-food worker minimum wage from $16 per hour to $20 per hour. It went into effect on April 1, 2024. Within six months fast food workers got a 25 percent increase in pay per hour.

There are some details in the law that you may not be aware of. The new law applies to restaurants that own 60 or more locations. That is why you are seeing many well-known fast-food restaurants like MOD Pizza close five locations in California. Although it doesn’t apply directly to smaller restaurants that have 60 or less locations, it’s indirectly affecting them because now their current employees are more likely to quit and make a lateral change in jobs for a higher wage per hour.

Another indirect effect of an increased fast-food minimum wage is taxes. When a restaurant hires an employee, they have to pay the wages per hour and payroll taxes. The restaurant will pay a higher 7.65 percent federal payroll employer portion and Unemployment Insurance and Employee Training Tax for their California employer portion. The federal and California taxes add up quickly per employee. However, this benefits California as they make more revenue with the higher minimum wage, for them to use on unsavory government spending.

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California has a budget deficit of at least $45 billion as of the latest announcement in May 2024. The budget will need to be passed by June 15 or the governor and lawmakers don’t get paid. Historically, the three biggest revenue sources are from personal income, corporate, and sales tax. According to Forbes, 817,669 residents left California in 2022. Raising the minimum wage on small business is an indirect way to make up for the shortfall in tax revenue, and are eyeballing small businesses to carry the load.

Many customers have been outraged by the high prices. To try to alleviate the pain, McDonald’s is planning to roll out a $5 meal deal starting June 25th. Unfortunately, it will only be around for one month. Just as consumers thought they would get relief it will most likely go back to the high prices. Wendy’s already has a $5 meal deal. People will go there for the meal deal. If a restaurant owner is a franchisee of McDonald’s their business will evaporate. It’s already too expensive to run a franchise on top of the new minimum wage. Customers will most likely eat at home. This effects local government as well. As restaurants close, cities lose revenue from city business licenses, business property taxes, and real estate taxes.

The financial burden on restaurants is tremendous. The bigger restaurants have other restaurants to absorb the higher minimum wage and can afford to close a restaurant. Independent restaurants will need to do a combination of increase prices, layoff more employees, and explore automation. Rather than doing that, the gloves need to come off and restaurants need to fight back.

Trying to repeal it on the ballot in the next election takes time and money. In the meantime, small businesses will need to band together to voice their frustration. Contact your local Congress person and complain. It’s time to stand up and fight. Be vocal, be bold, and let everyone know who is at the helm driving small business ship to the ground. Not doing anything will lead to the destruction of restaurants and small businesses in California.

Rene Carlos is an Enrolled Agent with nearly 20 years of experience in the tax and accounting industry and business coaching. He, and his wife, Julia, own Summit Tax & Accounting Advisors and Western Premier Business Coaching in Orange County, California. He specializes in corporate tax preparation, accounting, business coaching, and leadership development for small businesses.

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Northern California’s House of Clocks has stood the test of time for 55 years

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Northern California’s House of Clocks has stood the test of time for 55 years


While we may lose an hour of sleep this coming weekend, one clock store in California is gearing up for one of its busiest times of the year: daylight savings.

It’s the House of Clocks, the largest clock company in Northern California, which was recently celebrating 55 years of business.

It’s a place frozen in time. Just visit the store’s 240-year-old grandfather clock. It’s got plenty of stories to tell, dating back to 1780.

“This is the oldest piece we have right now,” clocksmith Joey Hohn said.

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The House of Clocks is on the outskirts of Downtown Lodi in San Joaquin County.

“We have new, we have vintage, we have antique,” co-owner Sandy Hohn shared. “Honestly, it feels like not a day goes by that we don’t get a phone call or an email of somebody wanting to sell something for 100 different reasons.”

The clock store has been with the Hohn family for three generations. It’s all thanks to one family heirloom.

“When the first war started, [my grandparents] left everything and had to move,” Joey Hohn explained. “After the Second World War, my grandpa was stationed in Germany. They went back to the house that had been abandoned and the neighbor who they left the property to said, ‘As far as I’m concerned, everything in the house is still yours.’ They went back and got this, so this is my great-great-grandparents’ clock.”

You can find just about anything in the House of Clocks, from old grandfather clocks to clocks that can fit in the palm of your hand.

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What you can’t find anywhere else is the Hohns’ love for Lodi.

“We’ve made so many friends over the years out of customers,” Sandy Hohn said. “Friends that are just wonderful, that love collecting, and we keep them repaired for their families, which is awesome. They have sentimental value that’s passed down.”

That same love for the city and their community runs in the family.

“We had a customer that wanted to repaint their dial,” Joey Hohn explained. “We told them no because it was her father’s who had passed away. Every time he went to wind the clock, he placed his thumb in the same spot. When we told her that smudge there on the dial was her father, she said, ‘Back away, don’t you dare.’ It was just a good memory we have.”

While you can’t turn back time, what we can do is keep memories alive and treasure the present moment.

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“There’s so many personalities,” Sandy Hohn said. “We just try to find a good home for them.”



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Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter

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Signs of spring blooming at Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve after wet, warm winter


It’s beginning to look a lot like spring!

The warm and wet weather this winter has led to the start of a dazzling super bloom at the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve.

“We had an unseasonably warm winter as well, so there’s actually a lot of growth,” said Callista Turney with California State Parks. “We’re having early wildflowers that are already at the park. So if you look at the poppy live cam, it shows a lot of orange already.”

The rain has helped the early blooms, but it’s actually the heat that accelerated the growth of the flowers.

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“It will actually speed up the growth of the plants, so some of them were already blooming and that’s going to cause those blossoms to accelerate faster towards seed production. And the blossoms that are in the process of being formed, those are going to open up soon as well.”

We also sometimes see great super blooms in Death Valley National Park, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, Joshua Tree and the Mojave National Preserve.

“It’s definitely a rare occurrence because we don’t always have the right conditions. It’s gotta be the weather, the wind, the rain, all coming together,” said Katie Tilford, Director of Development and Communications with the Theodore Payne Foundation.

If it continues to stay unseasonably warm, we’ll see a shorter bloom. The key to a longer season is milder weather.


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Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’

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Republican governor candidate Chad Bianco says he’s the ‘antithesis to California state government’


We are counting down to the California governor’s race. Chad Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, is one of the two biggest names running on the Republican ticket.

In a one-on-one interview with Eyewitness News political reporter Josh Haskell, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said, “I am the antithesis to California state government because I am going to take a nuclear bomb into that building and absolutely destroy everything that they do to us behind closed doors.”

Although he’s been elected by the voters twice, Bianco says he’s not a politician — which is why he believes his campaign for California governor is resonating, as reflected in the polls.

“President Trump, in one year, from 2025 when he took over, until now, did absolutely nothing to harm California. What’s harming California is 30 years of Democrat one-party rule that have created an environment here that no one can live in anymore. They’ve only been successful here in California because we vote D no matter what. You vote D or die. I mean, that’s it. Charles Manson would be elected in California if he was the only Democrat on the ballot,” Bianco said.

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Bianco isn’t the only conservative Republican running for governor, and according to polling, he’s neck-and-neck with former Fox News host Steve Hilton.

SEE ALSO: CA governor candidate Steve Hilton says ‘everybody supports’ Trump’s immigration policies

Leading in some polls in the wide-open California Governor’s race as the June primary creeps closer is Republican and former Fox News host Steve Hilton.

“Steve has no chance of winning in November. The Democrats know that I’m going to win in November, and so they have to do everything they can to keep me out of that,” Bianco said.

When asked about the affordability crisis in the state, Bianco said, “Almost the entire issue of affordability in California is because of regulation, excessive regulation imposed by government. Every single regulation can be signed away with the governor’s signature.”

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“It is a drug and alcohol addiction problem that, and a mental health problem,” he said about the homelessness crisis. “Every single bit of money that is going to these nonprofits that say ‘homeless,’ zero money. You’re getting absolutely nothing. I can’t tell you that we would end what we see in the homeless situation within a year, but I guarantee you we would never see it again after two years.”

When challenged on that prediction, pointing to how the state doesn’t have the facilities to treat the number of people living on our streets, Bianco responded, “We have been conditioned to believe that buildings take five years to build. It takes 90 days or less to build a house, but in California, it takes three to five years because the government won’t allow it. The regulations that are destroying this state are going to be removed with me as the governor.”

Bianco also said California jails shouldn’t have to play the role of treatment facilities.

Although he says he supports the Trump administration and wants the president’s endorsement, Bianco has been traveling the state — meeting not just with Republicans, but Democrats and independents as well. He says all of our state government officials have failed.

The primary election is June 2.

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No clear front-runner in race for California governor, new poll shows

A new poll shows there’s still no clear front-runner in the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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