As California prepares to implement a new law that requires major fast food chains to pay workers a minimum of $20 an hour starting in April, a new report explains why the governor's relationship with a billionaire helped exempt Panera Bread and chain restaurants like it and now some lawmakers are calling for an investigation into the deal. In 2022, state lawmakers passed the F.A.S.T Recovery Act, which set new wages and established a council to bargain working conditions and pay on behalf of the half a million fast food workers in the state. Baked into the legislation was a carve-out for chains that bake and sell their own bread. Bloomberg reported that the exemption is the result of the governor's relationship with billionaire and Panera franchisee Greg Flynn, who was initially a major opponent of the bill. Multiple sources told KCRA 3 that the governor pushed for the exemption in the late stages of the bill's negotiation in 2022 with Flynn's influence. “This legislation was the result of countless hours of negotiations with dozens of stakeholders over two years," said Newsom's office spokesman Alex Stack in a statement on Wednesday. "Staff in the Governor’s Office met with dozens of business owners as well as union representatives, as is expected when policies of this consequence are moving through the Legislature.”According to state campaign finance data, Flynn donated $100,000 to Newsom's campaign against the 2021 recall and $64,800 to his reelection campaign in 2022. He told Bloomberg he did not play a role in crafting the exemption. He did not respond to KCRA 3's request for comment Wednesday night. The California Assembly's Republican Minority Leader James Gallagher called for an investigation Wednesday night. "Can any franchisee get an exemption from the $20 minimum wage law or do they need to donate more than $150k to Newsom first? This crooked deal needs to be investigated," Gallagher said. KCRA 3 reached out to the offices of Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas and Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire for comment on Wednesday night. Neither responded. "Our margins, our profits have gone down from 9% to 3.5%," Flynn told KCRA 3 in an interview in 2022. "We’re barely hanging on. And when I think about the creation of a state council that is designed specifically to add more costs, I don’t know if we can make it.”The law faced the threat of a referendum later that year, and after a year's worth of negotiations, the fast-food industry, labor groups and lawmakers agreed to move forward with the legislation, and the exemption remained. When Newsom finally signed the agreement into law in 2023 at a news conference in Los Angeles, KCRA 3 asked why the exemption was there in the first place and why Panera and other bakery counter service restaurant workers won't have the same protections. "That's a part of the sausage making," Newsom replied. "We went back and forth, and that was part of the negotiation, that's the nature of negotiation. It's not just Jack in the Box, it's not just McDonald's, there are a lot of different players, and this affects a lot of different franchises and different models as it relates to that and different conditions and environments. That was all part of the give and take and that was the collective wisdom of the Legislature and ultimately led to my signature."