On January 19, 2012, proponents of an initiative which would amend the San Jose Municipal Code, Title 4 filed a Notice of Intent to circulate a petition which would increase the minimum wage paid in San Jose to $10.00 per hour. To qualify for the November 2012 ballot, the measure would need 19,161 signatures from San Jose registered voters. On March 29, 2012, the proponents submitted 36,225 signatures on 5,084 petition sections and the City Clerk submitted the petitions to the County of Santa Clara Registrar of Voters for signature verification. On April 24, 2012 the Registrar of Voters certified the petition as having the sufficient number of signatures and is qualified for the ballot.

On May 1, 2012 the San Jose City Council accepted the certification and directed City staff to develop a report on the effects of the proposed measure. The report will be presented to the City Council on Tuesday, May 22 at which time the Council will decide how to proceed. Under the City Charter and California Elections Code, the Council’s choices on May 22 are:

1) Adopt Ordinance as proposed: The Council may adopt the ordinance within 10 days after the report is presented. If this option is pursued, the Council must act on the adoption of the proposed ordinance as submitted no later than June 1, 2012.

2) Order a Special Municipal Election: If the City Council does not adopt the proposed ordinance in its entirety, then the proposed ordinance, without alteration, may be submitted by the Council to the voters at a Special Municipal Election. The Council would have to adopt a resolution calling an election to submit the initiative to the voters at a Special Municipal Election on a date to be decided, but no earlier than 88 days and no later than 103 days from the date of the resolution.

3) Order an election on the next General Election Date: If the City Council does not adopt the proposed ordinance in its entirety, then the proposed ordinance, without alteration, shall be submitted by the Council to the voters at the next General Election, which is November 6, 2012. The Council would need to adopt a resolution to submit the proposed ordinance to the voters by August 10, 2012; the last regular Council meeting before that date is August 7, 2012.