Dozens of states and cities implemented scheduled minimum wage hikes on January 1st, and several more approved increases on the ballot last November. Now, lawmakers are pushing the boundaries again with even higher target minimum wage rates and adding automatic inflationary increases to existing minimum wage laws.
Here is a full (and growing) list of filed and proposed legislation in states across the country affecting state and local minimum wages, as well as tip credits.
INTRODUCED
- Arizona – SB 1108 would provide a tax credit to alleviate the portion of employers’ labor costs that rise beyond the state minimum wage requirement due to higher local minimum wage mandates.
- Hawaii – SB 125 would increase the size of the tip credit by up to 20% of the state minimum wage by 2028.
- Idaho – HB0048 removes language that prohibits localities to set minimum wages higher than the state rate.
- Kansas – SB 70 would raise the minimum wage to $16/hour by January 2027, and raise the tipped minimum wage to $3.25/hour by January 2024.
- Mississippi – HB 583 would raise the state minimum wage to $8.50/hr.
- Nebraska – LB 327 would amend the approved 2022 ballot measure to raise the minimum wage by capping inflation indexing increases to 1.5%.
- New Hampshire – HB57 would raise the state minimum wage to $15/hr by 2025 and would set the tip credit at 50% of the regular minimum wage.
- New Mexico – Two new proposals to raise state minimum wage:
- New York – Two new proposals, each facing the minimum or tipped minimum wage:
- Oklahoma – SB 1232 would raise the state minimum wage to $12/hr, with annual $0.50 increases thereafter.
PROPOSED
- Maine – Several bills have been proposed to curb existing minimum wage hikes, although currently just bill titles are available to the public. These include:
- A bill sponsored by Rep. Foster (R) and Sen. Harrington (R) to end annual inflation adjustments of state minimum wage.
- A bill sponsored by Rep. Morris (R) to give the state sole power to raise minimum wages, ending local wage ordinances.
- A bill sponsored by Rep. Bradstreet (R) to tie future minimum wage increases to a rolling-average of the cost of living from the past 3 years, not just the previous year.
- A bill sponsored by Rep. Talbot Ross (D) to eliminate the state tip credit.
- A bill sponsored by Rep. Collings (D) and Rep. Geiger (D) to establish a “living wage” in Maine of $17.88/hr.
- Pennsylvania – Sen. Wayne Fontana (D) has proposed to raise the state minimum wage to $15/hr.
- Vermont – State Sen. Rebecca White has proposed a bill to raise the state’s tipped minimum wage to $6.28/hr.
The activist push for higher wage targets is prevalent at the state and local level, but even with changing leadership in Congress, progressives are still pushing for a federal minimum wage hike. This week, U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) re-introduced a bill to raise the minimum wage nationally to $15 per hour.
Stay tuned as we monitor the progress of these bills as well as new introductions throughout state legislative sessions.