On the same day that Philadelphia was announced as the host of the 2016 Democratic National Convention, the City of Brotherly Love tackled an issue which is poised to become a central point of discourse in the looming presidential election.

Surrounded by a crowd of excited workers, the City Council passed legislation for mandatory paid sick leave which Mayor Nutter signed into law later in the day.

“The people who do not have paid sick leave are the people who need it the most,” said Councilman William K. Greenlee, the bill’s sponsor.

“They’re low-income workers, single mothers; they’re college students or people just starting in the workforce.”

The bill, which will benefit around 200,000 Philadelphia workers, requires businesses with 10 or more employees to guarantee at least one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked. The law goes into effect 90 days after the signing.

This bill has been seven years in the making since Greenlee first pushed for it back in 2008.

Currently, 16 cities–including New York, Portland and Seattle–and three states–California, Connecticut, and Massachusetts–have enacted similar laws while President Obama has called on Congress to pass a federal measure.

Mayor Nutter had previously vetoed similar attempts in 2011 and 2013, explaining that he was never opposed to sick leave but could not support it during the fallout of the 2008 financial crisis.

“The hardworking men and women of our city really can’t wait another day, another week, another month to have paid sick leave,” Nutter said.

Opposition, in particular the hospitality industry, lobbied against the bill saying that it will discourage businesses from moving to the city and deter current companies from expanding.

Initially, the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce motioned for the employee threshold to be established at 50 but eventually curtailed that number to 15.

The chamber’s director of public policy Joe Grace said the group’s contention was “never about paid sick leave” but “about competitiveness.”

And in the midst of the 2016 DNC decision and paid sick leave announcements in Philadelphia, just south in Washington, D.C. Democrats introduced a bill that would establish a federal standard on the matter.

Greg Sargent of the Washington Post called the three intertwined stories “a coincidence, surely, but it is an interesting one.”

Sargent believes the issue is ‘well on its way to becoming a key issue for Democrats on the national level, as they seek to craft an economic agenda for the 2016 elections.’

Even with imminent Republican contention, Democrats are pushing the matter with brazen vigor in the hopes of establishing a new pillar in the party’s middle class platform.

The fact that Washington is taking action on the issue is significant.

Lucia Graves of the National Journal pointed to this as a success for progressives who have seen this issue pushed at the state and local level by labor and women’s groups for a decade.

Long-time Philadelphia labor activist and former head of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) Kathy Black is one of those progressives working at the grassroots level. Black attributes this political victory to a ‘changing political climate’ which has seen ‘unstoppable momentum.’

Black also saw the successful 2016 DNC bid as a factor.

“Democrats couldn’t really hold their convention in a city that was repeatedly defeating this bill,” she said.

Following Mayor Nutter’s signature into law, prospective Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton tweeted her support of the action.

Good week for #Philadelphia…http://t.co/YqX35enaHP

— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 14, 2015

Soon after, Martha T. Moore of USA Today wrote “Could this be a clue to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 platform?”