California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) on Monday signed a bill that increases protections for fast-food workers in the state, creating a council to set an industry-wide minimum wage and workplace standards.

The bill passed the state legislature last week against opposition from trade groups, which said it unfairly targeted the fast-food industry and would cause prices to rise at a time when the U.S. inflation rate is among the highest in decades.

Newsom said in a Labor Day video message that California, which is the size of the world’s fifth-largest economy, had long had a “formula for success around growth and inclusion.” But the fast-food industry was one in which the state had fallen “a bit short” on improving wages and working conditions, he added.

“For years, the fast food sector has been rife with abuse, low pay, few benefits, and minimal job security,” the bill’s authors wrote. The law provides for the creation of a “Fast Food Council” made up of 10 members to “establish sectorwide minimum standards on wages, working hours, and other working conditions related to the health, safety, and welfare of, and supplying the necessary cost of proper living to, fast food restaurant workers.”

The legislation caps the 2023 fast-food minimum wage at $22. The state minimum wage is $15 for businesses with 26 employees or more. After Jan. 1, 2024, the sector’s minimum wage will be adjusted for inflation, capped at 3.5 percent annually.

The Service Employees International Union, which...

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