Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/681807
49 Q2 2016 / CINEMONTAGE York Times. "I do not think that we have to discriminate against anyone to protect the faith-based community in Georgia," Deal said at a news conference at the State Capitol in Atlanta. Deal announced his decision less than two weeks after the Georgia General Assembly approved House Bill 757, which offered protections to faith- based groups if they refused to provide "social, educational or charitable services that violate" their religious beliefs. Walt Disney Company announced on March 23 that it would "take [its] business elsewhere should any legislation allowing discriminatory practices be signed into state law." Currently, Marvel/Disney's Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is filming at Pinewood Studios outside Atlanta. Among the many features and TV series working in the state, AMC's blockbuster The Walking Dead and Halt & Catch Fire shoot in Georgia. "As a company, AMC Networks believes that discrimination of any kind is reprehensible," a spokesman for the network said. Tyler Perry is building his new studio complex at the former Fort McPherson Army Base in southwest Atlanta. The director-actor-producer has said that when complete, the complex will be "bigger than Warner Bros." Critics called the bill a poorly masked effort to allow discrimination. Hundreds of companies warned the governor against signing the bill. Disney followed the lead of the NFL, which signaled that Georgia could miss out on economic opportunities, like hosting a Super Bowl in 2019 or 2020. An NFL spokesperson cautioned that local laws should meet league policies that "emphasize tolerance and inclusiveness, and prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or any other improper standard," according to Dominic Patten in Deadline Hollywood. CA, NY TO RAISE MINIMUM WAGE TO $15 California and New York will become the highest-paid minimum-wage states in the nation after their governors each reached deals with lawmakers to raise the lowest amount a worker can be paid to a record-breaking $15 an hour, write Alison Noon and Jonathan Cooper in The Los Angeles Times. California Governor Jerry Brown and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo reached deals in the final days of March to raise the states' base wages. "California takes a massive leap forward today in the fight to rebalance our nation's economy," said Art Pulaski, executive secretary-treasurer of the California Labor Federation. California's current $10-an- hour minimum wage is slightly higher than New York's $9 minimum wage. Democrats who control both legislative chambers in California praised the increase as a boon to more than 2 million workers. The increases would start with a bump from $10 to $10.50 on January 1, 2017. Businesses with 25 or fewer employees would have an extra year to comply, add Noon and Cooper. Boosts of $1 an hour would come every January until 2022. The governor could delay increases if there are budgetary or economic downturns. The deal reached in New York would be phased in regionally. It would also eventually affect more than 2 million workers. The wage would rise to $15 LABOR MAT TERS