Minimum wage is topic of Wake Up Newport discussion Thursday

The Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce will present a three-speaker panel discussion about minimum-wage increases being considered around the state during its Wake Up Newport event Thursday.

Jennifer Muir, general manager of the Orange County Employees Assn., Matt Sutton, vice president of government affairs and public policy for the California Restaurant Assn., and Russell Mangum, a Concordia University professor in the school of business and economics, will speak about how minimum-wage increases could affect area businesses.

A state Senate bill that proposed raising the minimum wage was defeated recently in an Assembly committee. Some senators have proposed introducing a similar bill in the future.

California’s current minimum wage of $9 an hour is scheduled to increase to $10 an hour on Jan. 1. The defeated legislation would have increased the hourly wage to $11 in 2016 and $13 in 2017. Beginning in 2019, it would rise along with inflation.

Wake Up Newport will begin at 7:15 a.m. at the Newport Beach Public Library, 1000 Avocado Ave.