By Karen Robes Meeks
Los Angeles Times Weekend, April 15, 2016

As Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks toured Earth Friendly Products' new headquarters in Cypress [CA], the company president and chief executive couldn't help but think of her father, Van Vlahakis, who died two years ago. Vlahakis, a Greek chemist who launched the family business out of his garage in Chicago in 1967, would have been proud of the platinum-rated Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification of the building, which features low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint, bamboo flooring, solar carports where electric vehicles can be recharged, energy-efficient...

By Joyce Rosenberg
Associated Press, April 13, 2016

NEW YORK (AP) — In the aftermath of California and New York becoming the first states to raise the statewide minimum wage to $15, some small businesses with hourly workers are rethinking how they can absorb the increase. ... California and Massachusetts have the highest statewide minimum wages at $10. California and New York this month became the first states to pass laws mandating that a statewide $15 minimum be phased in over the next few years. ...

Nearly three-quarters of U.S. workers paid at or below the...

By Laura Goldman
Letter to the Editor, Bohemian, April 13, 2016

The recently passed $15 minimum wage (Debriefer, April 6) will help, not harm, small businesses and Sonoma County's economic health. For over 30 years, my husband and I have owned and operated a local business, and we pay all employees a living—not minimum—wage. Paying a living wage is more than good business; it's the right thing to do, for our staff, our community and our local economy. And when the economy thrives, so does our business. We invest in our employees and they in...

A leaked GOP pollster's report dismantles the perception that businesses oppose raising the minimum wage.

By David Brodwin
US News & World Report, April 8, 2016

Efforts to boost the minimum wage made real progress this week. California just approved an increase to $15 an hour by 2022, with New York close behind. This more than doubles the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. ...

Large national business organizations have strenuously opposed raising the minimum wage. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce couches its opposition in worker-friendly terms, saying that "minimum wage increases end up hurting the...

By Kitty McConnell
Manta, April 8, 2016

... Despite the opposition put forth by big business groups and chambers of commerce, a new Manta poll shows a majority of small business owners actually support higher minimum wages for workers. In fact, many small business owners already pay their employees more than is required by law.

Manta’s poll reveals that 59% of small business owners are in favor of a higher minimum wage. The same percentage of small business owners said they are “more likely to vote for a state or national candidate who supports a minimum...

If sharing economy companies can make it work, what about California and New York?

By Heesun Wee
CNBC, April 5, 2016

As more states move to lift the minimum wage, a small crop of businesses has surprisingly emerged as supporters of higher mandated pay and worker benefits — sharing economy companies. Start-ups in the on-demand space, which by and large recruit 1099 contractors, are opting instead to hire W-2 employees and offer perks including wages well above the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour — plus benefits such as health care.

Boston-based Bridj (pronounced "bridge") is an on-demand...

So why do most chambers of commerce still oppose it?

By Lydia DePillis
Washington Post, April 4, 2016

Whenever minimum wage increases are proposed on the state or federal level, business groups tend to fight them tooth and nail. But actual opposition may not be as united as the groups' rhetoric might make it appear, according to internal research conducted by a leading consultant for state chambers of commerce.

The survey of 1,000 business executives across the country was conducted by LuntzGlobal, the firm run by Republican pollster Frank Luntz, and obtained by a liberal watchdog group...

By Kent Hoover
Washington Business Journal and numerous others, April 4, 2016

Here’s an eyebrow-raising story for you: 79 percent of business executives around the country support raising the minimum wage in their states. That’s according to a survey of 1,000 executives of businesses of all sizes conducted by Republican pollster Frank Lutz’s firm for the Council of State Chambers, a national organization for state chamber of commerce executives. The minimum wage question was part of a wide-ranging survey done for internal purposes, not for public consumption, but it was leaked to the Center for Media and Democracy...

By Margot Roosevelt
Orange County Register, April 4, 2016

Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Monday a hefty, if gradual, expansion of California’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, a boost that will affect an estimated 605,000 Orange County workers over the next seven years. ... The new law raises the current $10 an hour pay floor to $10.50 in January 2017 for employers with more than 25 workers. Smaller businesses will have until January 2018. The wage will rise by another 50 cents the following year. It will jump by $1 annually after that, until reaches...

By Peg Quann
Bucks County Courier Times, April 4, 2016

Exact Solar - a business headquartered in Lower Makefield with a warehouse in Newtown Township - was picked by Gov. Tom Wolf to announce his plan Monday to increase the minimum wage. Wolf chose the Bucks County business after learning that Mark Bortman, the firm's founder and president, signed up with Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a national organization of business owners and executives who support raising the minimum wage to at least $12 an hour by 2020.  ...

Bortman, who majored in economics and international relations in college...