Arguments heard on extending ‘living wage’

A Superior Court judge heard arguments Wednesday in a challenge to an ordinance that would extend the protections of the city’s “living wage” law to workers at a dozen hotels near Los Angeles International Airport.

Judge David P. Yaffe didn’t indicate when he would issue a ruling. The ordinance was passed in February but had been blocked temporarily on grounds that it was too similar to an earlier law rescinded by the City Council under threat of a voter referendum.

Attorneys for the city and a hotel workers union said the new law was significantly different from the earlier ordinance. State law prohibits a legislature or city council from avoiding a voter referendum on one law by replacing it with a law that is substantially the same.