In this photo take Tuesday, March 29, 2016, Nathan Howard, 20, poses outside the suburban McDonalds that he works at in Rancho Cordova, Calif. California state lawmakers are expected to vote, Thursday,... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo take Tuesday, March 29, 2016, Nathan Howard, 20, poses outside the suburban McDonalds that he works at in Rancho Cordova, Calif. California state lawmakers are expected to vote, Thursday, on a proposal to gradually raise California's minimum wage to a nation leading $15 an hour by 2022.... (Associated Press) 
 
 SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on a proposal to raise California's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2022 (all times local): 
 
 2:35 p.m. 
 
 California lawmakers have approved the nation's highest statewide minimum wage of $15 an hour to take effect by 2022. 
 
 The legislation passed Thursday now goes to Gov. Jerry Brown, who is expected to sign it into law after previously working out the plan with labor unions. 
 
 Democrats who control both legislative chambers hailed the increase as a boon to more than 2 million of California's poorest workers and an example to the nation as it struggles with a growing gap between rich and poor. 
 
 Republicans echoed fears from business owners and economists that the annual increases — eventually tied to inflation — would compound California's image as hostile to business. 
 
 The Assembly passed SB3 with a 48-26 vote. The Senate followed, 26-12. 
 
 The increases would start with a boost from $10 to $10.50 on Jan. 1. Businesses with 25 or fewer employees would have an extra year to comply. 
 
 The state of New York was considering a similar move. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11:50 a.m. 
 
 The California Assembly has green-lighted a plan that would create the highest statewide minimum wage in the nation of $15 an hour by 2022. 
 
 The proposal was passed Thursday and now moves on to the state Senate for consideration. 
 
 Democrats who control both legislative chambers hailed the increase as a boon to more than 2 million of California's poorest workers and an example to the nation as it struggles with a growing gap between rich and poor. 
 
 Republicans echoed fears from business owners and economists that the annual increases — eventually tied to inflation — would compound California's image as hostile to business. 
 
 The Assembly passed SB3 with a 48-26 vote. 
 
 The state of New York is considering a similar measure. 
 
 ___ 
 
 11:40 a.m. 
 
 While California lawmakers consider the nation's first $15 an hour statewide minimum wage, New York state lawmakers are eyeing a similar move. 
 
 New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers continued to negotiate Thursday over Cuomo's proposal to gradually raise the state's minimum wage from $9 to $15 by the end of 2018 in New York City and by mid-2021 elsewhere in the state. 
 
 New York lawmakers face a Friday deadline to pass a budget. 
 
 ____ 
 
 11:20 p.m. 
 
 California state lawmakers are poised to enact the nation's highest statewide minimum wage, with gradual increases to $15 by 2022. 
 
 Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders are promoting the boost not only as a matter of economic justice, but as an example to a nation struggling with a growing gap between rich and poor. 
 
 Opponents say Thursday's planned votes in the Assembly and Senate will further harm California's already poor business climate. 
 
 Democrats need only majority votes to send SB3 to Brown, and they control majorities in each legislative chamber. 
 
 Under the bill, the state's minimum wage would reach $15 an hour by January 2022, starting with a boost from $10 to $10.50 next year. 
 
 Businesses with 25 or fewer employees would have an extra year to comply. ||||| FILE - In this Tuesday, July 21, 2015 file photo, workers hold a rally in Los Angeles in support of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' proposed minimum wage ordinance. On Saturday, March 26,... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Tuesday, July 21, 2015 file photo, workers hold a rally in Los Angeles in support of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' proposed minimum wage ordinance. On Saturday, March 26, California legislators and labor unions reached an agreement that will take the state's minimum wage... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Tuesday, July 21, 2015 file photo, workers hold a rally in Los Angeles in support of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' proposed minimum wage ordinance. On Saturday, March 26, California legislators and labor unions reached an agreement that will take the state's minimum wage... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Tuesday, July 21, 2015 file photo, workers hold a rally in Los Angeles in support of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' proposed minimum wage ordinance. On Saturday, March 26,... (Associated Press) 
 
 SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California legislators and labor unions have reached a tentative agreement that will take the state's minimum wage from $10 to $15 an hour, a state senator said, a move that would make for the largest statewide minimum in the nation by far. 
 
 "This is not a done deal," Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, told The Associated Press on Saturday. "Everyone's been operating in good faith and we hope to get it through the Legislature." 
 
 Leno said if an agreement is finalized, it would go before the Legislature as part of his minimum-wage bill that stalled last year. 
 
 If the Legislature approves a minimum-wage package, it would avoid taking the issue to the ballot. One union-backed initiative has already qualified for the ballot, and a second, competing measure is also trying to qualify. 
 
 "This is an issue I've been working on for many years," Leno said. "The governor and stakeholders have all been negotiating earnestly and in good faith for some time." 
 
 Leno did not confirm specifics of the agreement, but most proposals have the wage increasing about a dollar per year until it reaches $15 per hour. 
 
 The Los Angeles Times, which first reported the deal, said the wage would rise to $10.50 in 2017, to $11 an hour in 2018, and one dollar per year to take it to $15 by 2022. Businesses with fewer than 25 employees would have an extra year to comply. 
 
 At $10 an hour, California already has one of the highest minimum wages in the nation along with Massachusetts. Only Washington, D.C., at $10.50 per hour is higher. The hike to $15 would make it the highest statewide wage in the nation by far, though raises are in the works in other states that might change by the time the plateau is reached in 2022. 
 
 Some states have passed higher minimums for government employees and state-contracted workers, and some cities including Seattle have already passed $15 an hour increases. 
 
 And Oregon officials approved a law earlier this month that will increase that state's minimum wage to nearly $15 in urban areas over the next six years. 
 
 California union leaders, however, said they would not immediately dispense with planned ballot measures. 
 
 Sean Wherley, a spokesman for SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West, confirmed that the SEIU parent union was involved in the negotiations. He said SEIU-UHWW's leadership will decide whether to push ahead with its initiative that has already qualified for the ballot. 
 
 "Ours is on the ballot. We want to be certain of what all this is," Wherley said. "If some agreement is signed into law, then our executive board would decide what to do. They would only make that decision after any agreement is signed into law." 
 
 The union proposal that has already qualified for the ballot calls for reaching the $15 mark by 2021. The second proposed measure would reach $15 by 2020. Businesses and Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown have said such a steep wage increase would be incredibly costly. 
 
 A spokesman for Brown, Evan Westrup, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
 
 Kevin Liao, a spokesman for Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, declined to comment. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Dalton reported from Los Angeles.
– California legislators and labor unions have reached a tentative agreement that will take the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour, a move that would make for the largest statewide minimum in the nation by far. "Everyone's been operating in good faith and we hope to get it through the Legislature," Democratic state Sen. Mark Leno tells the AP. Gov. Jerry Brown sent the proposal to the Legislature on Monday, and it could be back on his desk as soon as Thursday. Under the proposal, the minimum wage would rise gradually, reaching $15 by 2022. After that, wages would rise with inflation, though in tough economic times the governor could delay increases. The minimum wage in California and Massachusetts is already $10 an hour, topped only by $10.50 in Washington, DC. "I'm hoping that what happens in California will not stay in California, but spread all across the country,” Brown told reporters at the state Capitol, per the Los Angeles Times. "It's a matter of economic justice. It makes sense." If the Legislature approves a minimum-wage package, it would avoid taking the issue to the ballot. One union-backed initiative has already qualified for the ballot, and a second, competing measure is also trying to qualify. (Los Angeles already plans to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2020.)