"In other words, it raises our state's minimum wage level to 48 cents below the federal poverty level in 2006, and to 22 cents below the projected federal poverty level in 2007 for a family of three," stated Lieber. "Hard-working minimum wage earning adults, many with families, pay their taxes and spend their paychecks at local businesses every day – yet they have not had a raise since 2002 so they have no hope of ever working their way out of poverty. If you work, you ought to be paid enough to eat."

According to a 2005 publication of the California Budget Project, "more than half the jobs in the California economy provide full-time, year-round wages that are below twice the federal poverty level."

According to a May 2004 report by the Center for Labor Research & Education at the University of California at Berkeley and the National Economic Development and Law Center, two million California working families rely on publicly funded safety net programs at a public cost of over $10 billion a year. Low-wage workers are relying on public assistance to make ends meet and, therefore, low-wage employers are essentially shifting their labor costs onto the taxpayers.

"Increasing the minimum wage is the single most effective means to fight poverty and reduce the growing wage gap in California," Lieber said. "California's current minimum wage is the lowest minimum wage on the West Coast despite our higher cost of living."

The minimum wages of Oregon and Washington are also indexed in order to provide a fair annual increase without legislation or ballot initiatives. "I really believe that our minimum wage level should be indexed as well, so there isn't just a perpetual conversation about it," commented Lieber.

The California Industrial Welfare Commission acted in 2000 to increase the minimum wage from $5.75 to $6.25, effective on January 1, 2001 and to $6.75 on January 1, 2002. The state's minimum wage was increased by initiative in 1996 from $4.25 per hour to $5.75 per hour over a two-year period.

AB 48 will next be sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for consideration.