The small town of Emeryville outside Oakland, California adopted an aggressive living wage law back in 2015. Just one month after the city council passed the minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave ordinance on June 2, the $9.00 minimum wage increased to $12.25 for small businesses (55 or fewer employees) and to $14.44 for large businesses. In addition, employees were to accrue one hour of paid sick leave for every 30 hours worked with an annual sick leave use cap of 48 hours for small employers and 72 hours for large. The local business community strongly opposed the mandate, cautioning city leaders that it would drive businesses to close their doors or move out of the city, but their cautions went unheeded. A study conducted by the Lokey School of Business and Public Policy at Mills College in Oakland and presented to the city council a week ago showed as a direct result of the Minimum Wage ordinance, a loss of 25 restaurants with another 5 (including a Baskins) either sold or currently on the market. This week, the City Council on a 3-2 vote, approved amending the 4 year old ordinance to delay the scheduled July 1 increase to $16.30 an hour. The amendment must pass on its second reading before it is formally adopted, but chances are good it will. A separate study conducted by the University of California Riverside also concluded that minimum wage increases were directly and negatively impacting restaurants and further, projects that the restaurant industry will create 30,000 fewer jobs in the Los Angeles area from 2017 through 2022.