Council adopts ordinance aligning Chapter 224 with state law; members pledge to revisit youth wage '90-day' rate next year
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Summary
The council adopted an ordinance amending Chapter 224 to match state law changes. Councilmembers used the public hearing to highlight concerns about a 90-day reduced youth rate for 14- to 17-year-olds and expressed interest in eliminating it as a 2026 priority, but no amendment was adopted.
The City Council adopted final passage of Ordinance 25505, amending Chapter 224 of the legislative code to align city rules with recent state law changes.
Council members used the hearing to discuss the separate policy issue of youth wages. Council Member Johnson thanked Council Member Yang for raising youth-wage concerns at a prior meeting and urged the council to continue studying protections for young workers: “I just wanna say thank you to, to council member Yang for bringing up just a really important important topic, especially surrounding youth wages last week,” Johnson said.
Councilor Ring said they had intended to propose an amendment to eliminate the city’s 90-day youth rate, which allows lower pay for 14- to 17-year-old employees during the first 90 days of employment, and said they remain “very determined and supportive of us eliminating this” in 2026. Vice President Kim and other members expressed support for further work but confirmed the amendment was not before the council for this ordinance. The council emphasized the ordinance under consideration matched state law changes and credited city staff for keeping the code current.
A motion to adopt the ordinance was made and the council voted 6-0 to adopt the ordinance; the clerk announced, “The public hearing is closed and the ordinance is adopted.” No amendment eliminating the 90-day youth rate was introduced or adopted at the meeting; council members said they hope to prioritize that change in 2026.