FILE - In this Tuesday, July 21, 2015 file photo, workers hold a rally in Los Angeles in support of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' proposed minimum wage ordinance. On Saturday, March 26,... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Tuesday, July 21, 2015 file photo, workers hold a rally in Los Angeles in support of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' proposed minimum wage ordinance. On Saturday, March 26, California legislators and labor unions reached an agreement that will take the state's minimum wage... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Tuesday, July 21, 2015 file photo, workers hold a rally in Los Angeles in support of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' proposed minimum wage ordinance. On Saturday, March 26, California legislators and labor unions reached an agreement that will take the state's minimum wage... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Tuesday, July 21, 2015 file photo, workers hold a rally in Los Angeles in support of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' proposed minimum wage ordinance. On Saturday, March 26,... (Associated Press) 
 
 SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California legislators and labor unions have reached a tentative agreement that will take the state's minimum wage from $10 to $15 an hour, a state senator said, a move that would make for the largest statewide minimum in the nation by far. 
 
 "This is not a done deal," Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, told The Associated Press on Saturday. "Everyone's been operating in good faith and we hope to get it through the Legislature." 
 
 Leno said if an agreement is finalized, it would go before the Legislature as part of his minimum-wage bill that stalled last year. 
 
 If the Legislature approves a minimum-wage package, it would avoid taking the issue to the ballot. One union-backed initiative has already qualified for the ballot, and a second, competing measure is also trying to qualify. 
 
 "This is an issue I've been working on for many years," Leno said. "The governor and stakeholders have all been negotiating earnestly and in good faith for some time." 
 
 Leno did not confirm specifics of the agreement, but most proposals have the wage increasing about a dollar per year until it reaches $15 per hour. 
 
 The Los Angeles Times, which first reported the deal, said the wage would rise to $10.50 in 2017, to $11 an hour in 2018, and one dollar per year to take it to $15 by 2022. Businesses with fewer than 25 employees would have an extra year to comply. 
 
 At $10 an hour, California already has one of the highest minimum wages in the nation along with Massachusetts. Only Washington, D.C., at $10.50 per hour is higher. The hike to $15 would make it the highest statewide wage in the nation by far, though raises are in the works in other states that might change by the time the plateau is reached in 2022. 
 
 Some states have passed higher minimums for government employees and state-contracted workers, and some cities including Seattle have already passed $15 an hour increases. 
 
 And Oregon officials approved a law earlier this month that will increase that state's minimum wage to nearly $15 in urban areas over the next six years. 
 
 California union leaders, however, said they would not immediately dispense with planned ballot measures. 
 
 Sean Wherley, a spokesman for SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, confirmed that the SEIU parent union was involved in the negotiations. He said SEIU-UHWW's leadership will decide whether to push ahead with its initiative that has already qualified for the ballot. 
 
 "Ours is on the ballot. We want to be certain of what all this is," Wherley said. "If some agreement is signed into law, then our executive board would decide what to do. They would only make that decision after any agreement is signed into law." 
 
 The union proposal that has already qualified for the ballot calls for reaching the $15 mark by 2021. The second proposed measure would reach $15 by 2020. Businesses and Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown have said such a steep wage increase would be incredibly costly. 
 
 A spokesman for Brown, Evan Westrup, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
 
 Kevin Liao, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, declined to comment. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Dalton reported from Los Angeles. ||||| "Everyone wants higher wages for folks, but if you can only raise prices so much ... you're going to be forced to cut hours, cut employees, change your business model and frankly, automate," said Ruben Gonzalez, senior advisor for strategic affairs at the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 
 
 The agreement, first reported by The Times on Saturday, would reinforce California's position as having the highest minimum wage of any state. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and was last increased in 2009. States can exceed the federal minimum but cannot go below it. 
 
 
 
 "This agreement puts a better future in the grasp of average Californians," said Laphonza Butler, president of the statewide council of the Service Employees International Union. 
 
 
 
 For Brown, the deal represents an admission that one or both of the ballot measures had a good chance of passing — even though they offered no respite in economic downturns. The governor signed the last statewide increase in 2013, but had suggested any additional increases would be a significant burden on the state as the employer of low-wage care workers for the disabled. 
 
 
 
 Brown had also previously rejected demands to "index" the minimum wage — linking future automatic increases to the rate of inflation. 
 
 
 
 Under this proposal, starting in 2024, the wage would go up to reflect increases in the Consumer Price Index, but by no more than 3.5% in a given year. 
 
 
 
 Even so, Brown did insist on including ways to stop wage increases if the economy falters. The agreement allows for a temporary pause in the first few years of boosted salaries if California's unemployment rate rises or if a deficit is projected in future state budgets. 
 
 
 
 The plan raises the wage "in a way that takes into account the vagaries of the capitalistic economy," Brown said. "This thing is the result of a lot of thinking." 
 
 
 

– California legislators and labor unions have reached a tentative agreement that will take the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour, a move that would make for the largest statewide minimum in the nation by far. "Everyone's been operating in good faith and we hope to get it through the Legislature," Democratic state Sen. Mark Leno tells the AP. Gov. Jerry Brown sent the proposal to the Legislature on Monday, and it could be back on his desk as soon as Thursday. Under the proposal, the minimum wage would rise gradually, reaching $15 by 2022. After that, wages would rise with inflation, though in tough economic times the governor could delay increases. The minimum wage in California and Massachusetts is already $10 an hour, topped only by $10.50 in Washington, DC. "I'm hoping that what happens in California will not stay in California, but spread all across the country,” Brown told reporters at the state Capitol, per the Los Angeles Times. "It's a matter of economic justice. It makes sense." If the Legislature approves a minimum-wage package, it would avoid taking the issue to the ballot. One union-backed initiative has already qualified for the ballot, and a second, competing measure is also trying to qualify. (Los Angeles already plans to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2020.)