More than 400,000 Californians are expected to get a pay increase under the new law, which gradually raises the minimum wage to $25 an hour for health care employees.

What earlier this year seemed like a long shot is now a done deal: Gov. Gavin Newsom today signed a law that will raise the pay for hundreds of thousands of California health care workers and set them on a path to a $25 minimum wage.

Newsom’s signing of the law means medical technicians, nursing assistants, custodians and other support staff will see a gradual wage hike that rolls out starting next year. He got behind the law on the same day that unions representing lower-paid Kaiser Permanente employees announced a new contract with a $25 minimum wage for the health care giant’s California workers.