SR 04-11-2023 16B
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: April 11, 2023
Agenda Item: 16.B
1 of 1
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Denise Anderson Warren, City Clerk, Records and Election Services
Department
Subject: Request of Mayor Davis and Councilmembers Zwick and Brock that the City
Council direct the City Manager and City Attorney to study and draft an
ordinance that would guarantee healthcare workers a minimum wage in
Santa Monica.
Prepared By: Denise Anderson Warren, City Clerk
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Minimum Wage for Healthcare Workers_20230411
B. Written Comments
16.B
Packet Pg. 2165
Healthcare Workers 16-item
Request of Mayor Davis and Councilmembers Zwick and Brock that the City Council direct the
City Manager and City Attorney to study and draft an ordinance that would guarantee
healthcare workers a minimum wage in Santa Monica.
Whereas healthcare workers served our city tirelessly and bravely throughout the COVID-19
pandemic, and whereas healthcare job vacancies are rising as workers on the frontlines deal
with the emotional, mental, and physical fallout of providing he althcare during a pandemic and
whereas the City of Santa Monica requires a sufficient healthcare workforce to ensure our
community remains healthy and safe.
The proposed ordinance should explore providing a minimum wage of not less than $25 an
hour to all healthcare workers at all hospitals, clinics, and psychiatric facilities within the city. It
should further explore a prohibition against employers funding minimum wage increases via
reduced staffing, hours of work, or benefits to current health care emp loyees and mechanisms
through which the city would enforce all requirements therein. Finally, it should include a
process whereby employers may be granted a waiver from such minimum wage requirements if
able to demonstrate by substantial evidence that comp liance would raise substantial doubt
about the employer’s ability to continue as a going concern under generally accepted
accounting standards
16.B.a
Packet Pg. 2166 Attachment: Minimum Wage for Healthcare Workers_20230411 (5695 : Minimum wage for Healthcare Workers)
1
Vernice Hankins
From:Ellis Raskin <ellis.raskin@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, April 11, 2023 11:59 AM
To:councilmtgitems; Gleam Davis; Lana Negrete; Phil Brock; Oscar de la Torre; Christine Parra; Caroline
Torosis; Jesse Zwick
Subject:Agenda Item 16-B (Healthcare Worker Minimum Wage)
EXTERNAL
Dear Hon. Councilmembers,
Santa Monica has never been more unaffordable to working‐class people. Accordingly, I urge you to support the request
by Mayor Davis and Councilmembers Brock and Zwick that the City Manager and City Attorney return with a proposed
healthcare worker minimum wage ordinance.
This is common‐sense legislation that will protect essential, frontline workers who literally put their lives on the line to
enrich our community.
Best,
Ellis Raskin
Item 16.B
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16.B.b
Packet Pg. 2167 Attachment: Written Comments (5695 : Minimum wage for Healthcare Workers)
From:Adena Tessler
To:councilmtgitems
Subject:Item #16B on April 12, 2023
Date:Tuesday, April 11, 2023 1:02:02 PM
Attachments:Santa Monica City Council HASC letter.final.docx
EXTERNAL
April 11, 2023
Santa Monica City Council
1685 Main Street, Rm 250
Santa Monica, CA 90401
RE: Item #16B – Direction to the City Manager and City Attorney to study and draft an ordinance
that would guarantee healthcare workers a minimum wage in Santa Monica.
Dear Honorable Mayor Gleam and Santa Monica Councilmembers:
The Hospital Association of Southern California (HASC) represents over 175 member hospitals and
35 health systems, all with a common goal: to improve the operating environment for hospitals and
our workforce and strengthen the health of the communities they serve. We are writing to express
our deep concern over a potential ordinance that would increase the minimum wage for health care
workers in specific health care facilities in the City of Santa Monica.
We have seen other communities within LA County consider a similar ordinance and have strong
concerns over this deeply flawed approach to setting minimum wage standards for only certain
workers at health care facilities.
The impact of this policy is far reaching and has many unintended consequences the Council should
consider thoroughly. This policy will increase the cost of care and threaten access to critical services
for the residents of Santa Monica and would particularly impact low-income and disadvantaged
patients where care is already strained.
Selectively implementing higher wage standards at health care facilities in one city is not the way to
go about determining wages. This hodge podge approach to policy making picks winners and losers
and runs the risk of deepening disparities in our broader health care system while creating
unforeseen economic tidal waves.
The Council has time on your side on this matter and therefore is in the best position to thoroughly
analyze the potential economic impacts and collaborate with all stakeholders to fully understand any
potential unintended impacts and consequences.
As the Council discusses this matter, we urge you to conduct an expansive and thorough
Item 16.B
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Packet Pg. 2168 Attachment: Written Comments (5695 : Minimum wage for Healthcare Workers)
economic analysis, with input and collaboration from all stakeholders, including hospitals,
community clinics, home care facilities, dialysis clinics, and senior nursing facilities.
Our health care system is far too fragile and important for the City Council to take action without
understanding the full impact and potential harm.
Similar ordinances that have been adopted by several other cities in LA County have already been
strongly rejected by the residents in their communities. Residents of those cities have responded by
demanding a voice and an opportunity to vote on the policy and have chosen to send it to the
ballot. Residents in Duarte defeated a similar measure on their November 2022 ballot.
While we wholeheartedly agree that health care workers deserve support, recognition, and a living
wage for the work that they do. We strongly urge you to study the impact such a policy would have
on the access to care for the people of Santa Monica. We also recommend you review the cost to
the City in implementing and enforcing a wage requirement.
We thank you for your consideration and appreciate the opportunity to share our concerns. We look
forward to collaborating with the Council and city staff on this issue moving forward.
Sincerely,
Adena R. Tessler
Regional Vice President for Los Angeles County
Hospital Association of Southern California
Adena R. Tessler
Regional Vice President, Greater Los Angeles Area
T: (213) 538-0703
E: atessler@hasc.org
Leadership In Health Affairs
Item 16.B
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16.B.b
Packet Pg. 2169 Attachment: Written Comments (5695 : Minimum wage for Healthcare Workers)
From:Natalya Zernitskaya
To:councilmtgitems
Cc:Jesse Zwick; Gleam Davis; Caroline Torosis; Christine Parra; David White; Phil Brock; Lana Negrete; Oscar de la
Torre; Attorney Mailbox
Subject:Santa Monica City Council Agenda 4/11/2023- Items 16B & 16D
Date:Tuesday, April 11, 2023 1:32:56 PM
EXTERNAL
Good Afternoon Mayor Davis, Mayor Pro Tem Negrete, and City Councilmembers,
I urge you to support both items 16B and 16D on tonight's agenda, to direct the City Manager
& City Attorney to study and draft an ordinance that would guarantee healthcare workers a
minimum wage of no less than $25/hr and to evaluate & develop recommendations related to
fractional ownership of single-family homes and residential condos, respectively.
Regarding Item 16B, the past 3 years have shown us how vital healthcare workers are to the
health and wellbeing of our community. Despite how important workers in this sector are,
many are woefully underpaid and can't even afford to live in the community where they work.
The item, as drafted, directs the City Manager & City Attorney to study the issue and draft an
ordinance guaranteeing healthcare workers (as defined) a minimum wage of $25/hr. Assuming
a standard 40 hour workweek, that comes out to $52,000/year. We should take care of the
healthcare workers who take care of all of us and supporting this item is an excellent step
towards that goal.
Item 16D addresses a very important issue that Santa Monica has been faced with before, the
use of our City's residential properties for vacation rentals rather than for residents. As we
experienced with the rise of AirBnB and other vacation rental companies, our City should take
care to ensure that our housing stock is occupied by residents, with minimal exceptions. The
latest rising trend of fractional ownership of homes, which effectively creates a timeshare-like
system for single family homes and residential condos, is an issue that can negatively impact
existing and future residents by limiting the availability of homes available to longer-term
residents. Newport Beach is already facing challenges due to fractional home ownership and is
exploring the best options for their city. I urge the Council to get ahead of this issue before it
becomes a significant problem and direct the City Manager & City Attorney to evaluate the
options and develop recommendations for the best way to regulate fractional home ownership
in Santa Monica.
Thank you for your consideration of these pressing issues before you tonight.
Sincerely,
Natalya Zernitskaya
Natalya Zernitskaya (she/her)
nzernitskaya@gmail.com
Item 16.B
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Packet Pg. 2170 Attachment: Written Comments (5695 : Minimum wage for Healthcare Workers)