California Pizza, $10 a Slice?

Michael Reagan on Oct 29, 2021

But wait, there’s even more stupidity coming from the lawmakers in Sacramento.

Remember AB5, the state law that Democrats passed a couple years ago at the behest of their union pals to basically outlaw gig workers in California?

The law was designed to kill off Uber and Lyft by forcing them and other companies to treat 1099 part-time contract workers as full-time employees with full benefits.

But AB5 was so crudely “crafted” that now it is preventing businesses from hiring the part-timers they need, whether it’s at the docks in Long Beach or the neighborhood pizza joint.

To make it even worse for smaller restaurants, starting next spring the state says any business with five or more employees that doesn’t already have a 401(k) or similar retirement plan for its employees will have to provide one through a state program called CalSavers.

I’ll spare you the legal details. But that means every restaurant larger than a Louie’s Pizza Parlor will be affected and if they don’t comply they’ll be fined as much as $500 per employee.

So it's pretty clear that $50 pizzas aren’t just in our future, they’re almost here.

The cost of a pizza in one place I go has already jumped from $16 to $41 bucks because of what the owner now has to pay to hire and keep his workers.

What’s he going to do next year when he has to start contributing to his dishwasher’s retirement plan?

He’ll have to raise his prices, cut his staff or close. (Soon there’s going to be a lot of four-person pizza joints and hamburger stands in the ex-Golden State.)

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