Following a successful campaign for a living wage ordinance in Los Angles, the Santa Monica city council began exploring a similar measure. In response, large hotel operators backed a ballot initiative (Proposition KK) that would have given higher wages for a tiny number of workers, but also prohibited any wider living wage mandate for private employers. In the fall of 2000 voters overwhelmingly rejected Prop. KK, and in the spring of 2001, a community coalition Santa Monicans Allied for Responsible Tourism, backed by the L.A. Alliance for a New Economy, successfully pushed the city council to pass a more expansive living wage ordinance impacting the coastal hotel zone.
