LOS ANGELES (AP) — California and New York acted Monday to gradually push their statewide minimum wages to $15 an hour — the highest in the nation — as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders again seized on wage disparity and the plight of the working poor in their fight for the Democratic presidential nomination. Sanders said in a statement that his campaign is about building on the steps in California and New York "so that everyone in this country can enjoy the dignity and basic economic security that comes from a living wage." While it was a victory for those struggling on the margins of the economy and the politically powerful unions that pushed it, business groups warned that the higher wage could cost thousands of jobs as employers are forced to provide steadily bigger paychecks. A $15 base wage will have "devastating impacts on small businesses in California," Tom Scott, executive director of the state branch of the National Federation of Independent Business, said in a statement. About 2.2 million Californians now earn the minimum wage, but University of California, Irvine, economics professor David Neumark estimated the boost could cost 5 to 10 percent of low-skilled workers their jobs. Sanders has made the $15 wage a foundation block of his candidacy, while Clinton backs Senate legislation that would enact a federal minimum wage of $12 an hour, with the ability of individual cities and states to set a higher threshold.