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In a rare loss for minimum wage backers, California voters narrowly rejected Proposition 32, a measure to raise the state’s minimum wage to US$18 an hour by 2026. The proposed rate would have been the highest state minimum wage in the county. With 96% of the vote in, voters rejected the measure by a margin of slightly more than 1.5% or about 244,000 votes. Ìý

This marks the first time a ballot measure in any state that proposed raising the minimum wage has failed since 1996, °ù±ð±è´Ç°ù³Ù±ð»å. Ìý

Current minimum wage rates in California are $16 per hour for most workers and $20 in the fast-food sector. The healthcare sector will eventually see its  under a law that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed last year and took effect in October, the Associated Press °ù±ð±è´Ç°ù³Ù±ð»å. Ìý

Washington state’s minimum wage of  is currently the highest state minimum wage. However, Hawaii’s minimum wage is set to gradually increase to $18 an hour in 2028 under a law passed in 2022. Ìý

About 40 California cities and counties already have minimum wages higher than the statewide rate, and six of them require minimums above $18 per hour as of this year, according to the . â¶Ä¯Ìý

And while California’s increase was unsuccessful, voters in Alaska and Missouri readily approved ballot measures this month to raise their state minimum wages gradually to $15 an hour by 2026, according to NBC News projections, with increases after 2026 attached to economic data.  Ìý