California’s Fast Food Council that decided wage hikes sits in limbo, as taxpayers foot the bill
California's Fast Food Council, established to oversee wage increases and working conditions, is currently inactive and lacking a chairperson. Despite receiving $1.1 million in taxpayer funding, the council has not held full meetings in over a year. The situation has drawn criticism from fast food workers who feel abandoned by the state after the wage hikes were implemented.
- ▪The Fast Food Council was created under Governor Gavin Newsom's labor deal to regulate wages and conditions for 630,000 workers.
- ▪The council has not met since 2024 and only held two subcommittee meetings last year.
- ▪Taxpayers continue to fund the council with $1.1 million annually, despite its inactivity.
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Metro California’s Fast Food Council that decided wage hikes sits in limbo, as taxpayers foot the bill By Daniel Farr Published May 20, 2026, 10:30 a.m. ET See more of our coverage in your search results. Add The New York Post on Google California’s Fast Food Council, created under Gov. Gavin Newsom’s high-profile labor deal, is sitting in limbo with no chairperson, no full meetings in more than a year, and roughly $1.1 million in taxpayer funding still paying for a body that is not functioning. What was pitched as a powerful watchdog over wages and working conditions in one of the state’s largest low-wage industries has instead become a stalled bureaucracy, now drawing heat from fast food workers who say the state built the system, raised wages, then left the oversight structure to rot.
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