Title
AN ORDINANCE establishing an hourly minimum wage rate for employees of employers in unincorporated King County, employees of certain county contractors, and county employees; amending Ordinance 17909, Section 4, as amended, and K.C.C. 3.18.010 and Ordinance 17909, Section 6, as amended, and K.C.C. 3.18.030, adding a new chapter to K.C.C. Title 2, adding a new chapter to K.C.C. Title 12, repealing Ordinance 17909, Section 5, as amended, and K.C.C. 3.18.020, Ordinance 17909, Section 7, and K.C.C. 3.18.040, Ordinance 17909, Section 8, and K.C.C. 3.18.050, Ordinance 17909, Section 9, and K.C.C. 3.18.060, Ordinance 17909, Section 10, and K.C.C. 3.18.070, Ordinance 17909, Section 11, as amended, and K.C.C. 3.18.080, and Ordinance 17909, Section 12, and K.C.C. 3.18.090, and establishing an effective date.
Body
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings:
A. In 2016, state of Washington voters passed Initiative 1433 to increase the state's hourly minimum wage rate and have it annually adjusted for inflation. Initiative 1433 also required state of Washington employers to provide paid sick leave to employees. The 2024 hourly minimum wage rate for Washington state is $16.28 per hour.
B. According to the 2023 National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach data, an employee making Washington's minimum wage would have to work 103 hours each week to afford a modest one-bedroom rental home at fair market rent in King County.
C. According to The Self-Sufficiency Standard for Washington State, developed in partnership with the University of Washington's Center for Women's Welfare and the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County, the state's minimum wage is insufficient to meet the basic needs of working families in King County. In 2023, for a dual-income household of two working adults and two school-aged children living in King County and earning the state's minimum wage, the family would fall short on average $36,442 to ...

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