California is considering raising taxes on some of the country’s largest companies, but the size of the tax increase would depend on how much its highest-paid executive makes compared to its employees.

The bigger the gap, the bigger the tax increase.

The bill by Democratic state Sen. Nancy Skinner passed out of its first committee hearing on Wednesday, keeping it alive a head of a Jan. 31 deadline to pass the Senate.

The proposal would only apply to companies that post at least $10 million of taxable income from business conducted in California. That would apply to about 2,000 companies nationwide, including the Walt Disney Co., headquartered in Burbank.

Many of the state’s business groups oppose the law, including the California Business Roundtable, which represents large companies. Detractors have said that the bill would keep companies from coming to the state. We look at the pros and cons of the legislation. 

With files from the Associated Press. 

We reached out to Senator Nancy Skinner. She was not available to join us for an interview this morning. 

Guests:

Kent Wong, director of the UCLA Labor Center

Susan Shelley, a columnist and a member of the editorial board of the Southern California News Group, which includes the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Daily News, she wrote a piece citing concerns about the proposed bill; she tweets