As for Cali contracting law, you may want to find out if what you got into as far as a contract was legal.
This is published every once in a while, and this is the current cycle:
http://www.cslb.ca.gov/cllrb/ As for wages, your post popped up more questions than answers, as many on this site don't want to get into the politics of wages, and rightfully so. (Union vs. Non-Union etc.)
But as far as one can go without going there, wages packages differ broadly for geographic areas. (And, of course, Supply and Demand) Although you might be in or near SD county, Hemet, right? The closer you get to urban centers like SD proper, or LA, San Francisco, etc. the higher wages will be. And, of course with higher population density, a larger demand. Then an interesting thing happens, the closer you get to those urban centers, the pool of blue collar workers decreases it seems. For instance here in SF, we have a hard time finding skilled labor, because it is so expensive to live here.
You can see an illistration of that here: (This site is based on prevailing wage package for each area, however it doesn't exactly mean people are getting paid these wages for other than government projects.)
http://www.dir.ca.gov/DLSR/PWD/Determinations/Subtrades/jrnylist.html Look at Inside Wireman in SF and Marin county. It drops $15 an hour as you go over a 1/4 mile bridge!
Then of course skill level and experiance comes into play as well to meet the wage level for your area...... And, the biggies, market growth and stability, supply and demand.
