Los Angeles County is considering lifting the minimum wage for some workers to $15, which is more than twice the federal baseline. The change would take effect gradually over the next five years, the Associated Press detailed.

The Board of Supervisors in the California jurisdiction, which is home to almost 10 million residents, voted on Tuesday to direct county lawyers to draft a proposed law in order to consider the measure later this year. The $15 figure would apply only to scattered and unincorporated areas outside the county's 88 cities, as well as to a slice of county workers who currently earn paychecks below that level.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti applauded the move, arguing that "the nation is watching what we do here in Los Angeles as a region," the Los Angeles Times reported. But the proposal faces strong opposition from small business leaders such as Michael Shafer, who owns two restaurants in Torrance, California, located in the county's South Bay region.

"This will cost jobs," the chef said, explaining that a $15 minimum wage would force him to reduce the workforce at his eateries and also cut into the number of charities he can afford to support by donating food and services.

But Roberto Balanzar, a minimum wage worker who on Tuesday attended a rally in support of the proposed wage hike, told KABC that there are many people in the county who work full time and still can barely make ends meet.

"This has been a very long and necessary fight," Balanzar said outside City Hall in downtown Los Angeles. "Every day in Los Angeles is becoming very difficult to survive in less than $15 an hour. There are three million people living in poverty here in Los Angeles County, and every single one of them will benefit from the wage hike."

Vice President Joe Biden, meanwhile, is scheduled to travel to southern California on Wednesday to promote minimum wage hikes nationwide, the ABC affiliate noted.