As reported in the Wall Street Journal, voters in four states on Tuesday approved ballot measures to increase the minimum wages paid to the lowest-earning workers in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Illinois also approved a symbolic, non-binding measure that will have no effect on the current law.
In San Francisco, a ballot measure to raise the minimum wage from $10.74 per hour to $15 in 2018 also passed. The minimum wage in California is currently $9.00 and will increase to $10 by 2016.