Newsom’s ‘First in the Nation’ Fast Food Council Hasn’t Met in Two Years Despite Million-Dollar Budget

California’s much-hyped “first in the nation” Fast Food Council has achieved something truly impressive: it has managed to do next to nothing for nearly two full years while still cashing taxpayer checks.

The council, tasked with “giving workers a voice” on wages and conditions for hundreds of thousands of fast-food employees, hasn’t held a full meeting since September 2024. A couple of subcommittee gatherings dribbled out in early 2025, and then… crickets. No leadership for over a year since former chair Nick Hardeman bailed for another state gig. Yet the four staffers funded by last year’s $1.1 million budget are still on the clock, dutifully “researching policy options,” drafting documents, and otherwise preparing for meetings that never happen.

As KCRA’s Ashley Zavala reported, taxpayers are funding a ghost operation. Governor Gavin Newsom, when asked, assured everyone the council isn’t defunct and that he hopes to appoint a new leader before he rides off into the sunset at the end of his term. A leader for what, precisely? A council that hasn’t convened as required by law? A jobs program for bureaucrats with nothing left to bureaucratize and micromanage? Zavala’s reporting nails the absurdity: the body created amid fanfare under AB 1228 to oversee the $20 minimum wage (and potentially hike it further) is now little more than an expensive reminder of Sacramento’s self-dealing priorities.

Staff keeps getting paid. The meetings do not. And Californians keep wondering why their cost of living continues to skyrocket?

Is California's first in the nation fast-food council going away?

Taxpayers are still funding staff for the council that's been without a leader for a year and hasn't met since 2024.

Gov. Newsom told me he hopes to appoint the council's next leader before he leaves office. pic.twitter.com/nuboN1J2P7

— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) July 13, 2026

The California Globe has covered this saga from the jump.

AB 257, signed by Newsom in 2022, birthed the 10-member council packed with worker reps, employers, and state officials. Restaurant owners and franchisees warned it would hammer an industry already reeling–higher costs, closures, automation, the works. They even launched a referendum push, calling out the backroom deal that painted small businesses as villains while SEIU cheered “historic victory” for cooks and cashiers.

The 2023 compromise (AB 1228) rammed through the $20 wage floor anyway. We chronicled the fallout: CEOs warning of dire consequences, an Employment Policies Institute ad campaign spotlighting 16,000 lost fast-food jobs, menu prices up over 14.5%, and customers voting with their wallets by staying home. Even an SEIU-funded report later admitted the body blow to employment: the steepest drop this century outside recessions or COVID,  and the rush to automation.

Yet here we are in mid-2026: the wage is locked in, the leaderless council is MIA, and the only thing functioning is the payroll for staff supporting a taxpayer funded mission on indefinite pause.

Franchisees still beg for clarity on how the rules apply to their shops. Workers’ advocates push for hearings that aren’t happening. And legislative leaders? Radio silence on holding anyone accountable for ignoring the statutory meeting requirement.

Newsom’s office insists the appointment is coming, one of thousands on his desk, and that the council will roar back to life. But after two years of inactivity, Californians can be forgiven for asking whether this “groundbreaking” body was ever more than a union wish-list item with a permanent blank check attached.

As the Globe has repeatedly documented, California’s habit of layering bureaucracy on top of bad policy rarely ends with thriving businesses or happy workers. It ends with higher prices, fewer jobs, and in this case, a very well-compensated council that forgot to show up.

Newsom vows to name the council’s new leader. Whether anyone notices is another question.