Preventing the Spread of Misguided State-Based Policies at the Federal Level
IFA has engaged in a number of state level debates over the implementation of policies aimed at harming or ending the franchise model.
For example, the 2022 Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery (FAST Act) in California would have expanded the joint employer standard and created and empowered a Fast Food Council, an unelected board of bureaucrats with little to no accountability, with wide-spread authority to establish sector wide mandates on wages, hours, and other factors.
Negotiations led by IFA and our allies yielded a compromise, lowering the minimum wage threshold from $22 to $20 and extended the timeline of its implementation from January 1, 2023 to April 1, 2024.
It also weakened the powers of the Fast Food Council to advisory status rather than creating a new rule making body.
Franchised businesses have higher rates of safety compliance, and IFA supports enforcement of laws to protect employees from wage theft and ensure health and safety.
However, IFA opposes attempts to create new councils to regulate industries based on flawed data that harm small businesses and their employees. Efforts are under way in other cities to establish such workforce councils, and IFA will continue to oppose their creation.