Many states saw proposals in the legislature or filed as ballot measures to raise wage floors and/or eliminate the tip credit this year. While many have failed due to employee and small business opposition, there are still several that have qualified to go before voters on November 5.
Learn more about proposed wage hikes facing voters this fall:
-
- Alaska: A ballot measure to raise the minimum wage statewide up to $15 per hour, and create mandated paid sick leave is qualified to appear on the November election ballot. Alaska currently does not allow a tip credit.
- Arizona: The Tipped Worker Protection Act, a proposed constitutional amendment to set the tip credit at 25% of the regular minimum wage rate, will appear before voters on the ballot. Another proposed measure to raise the state’s minimum wage to $18 and eliminate the tip credit was withdrawn by its proponents after failing to collect enough signatures in support.
- California: Proposition 32, proposing to raise the state’s minimum wage to $18 per hour, is currently certified for the ballot in November. California currently does not allow a tip credit.
- Massachusetts: Voters will decide on Ballot Measure 5 to eliminate the state’s tip credit in November, after proponents gathered a second round of signatures to qualify it for the ballot following the legislature’s inaction on the measure.
- Missouri: Proposition A to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour will go before voters in November. The measure would also require employers to provide paid sick leave. The state’s tip credit would not be changed, but represents 50% of the regular minimum wage rate.
Oklahoma officials announced a measure to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour (it does not change the current tipped minimum wage of $2.13 per hour) will not be on the ballot in November. The measure gained enough signatures needed to qualify for the ballot, but did not receive an official approval from the Governor before an August 26th deadline. The measure will go before voters at a later date.
Earlier this summer, the Michigan Supreme Court reversed an appeals court decision, and reinstated a ballot measure that would raise the state’s minimum wage and eliminate the tip credit. A bipartisan group of lawmakers are calling for a legislative fix to this measure, and the state Attorney General has asked the court for clarification on the schedule of increases laid out in the court’s decision before it can be implemented starting in February 2025.
Defeated wage hike and anti-tip credit elimination efforts include:
-
- Connecticut: A proposed bill to eliminate the state tip credit died earlier this year in the legislature.
- Illinois: A proposed bill to eliminate the tip credit statewide has apparently stalled. The House Labor Committee initially passed the bill despite a bipartisan group of legislators expressing concerns over the impact of the bill. Ultimately, the bill failed to gain a full House vote and died with the end of the legislative session on May 24.
- Maryland: A proposed bill to eliminate the tip credit statewide died in the Senate Finance Committee following significant pushback from tipped restaurant employees and local operators. The bill never received a vote before the end of the legislative session on May 8.
- New York: Bills to raise New York’s tipped minimum wage did not receive a vote in the legislature before it adjourned.
- Ohio: A proposed ballot measure to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour and eliminate the state’s tip credit was withdrawn by proponents after failing to collect enough signatures across the state.
- Rhode Island: A proposed bill to eliminate the state’s tip credit was tabled by the House Labor Committee in its first hearing, following pushback from tipped employees and local operators.