In
a somewhat surprising move Thursday, the State Senate passed a considerably
more generous version of the minimum wage increase legislation introduced by
Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe).
As
introduced, Senate
Bill 934 would have increased the minimum wage from $7.40/hour to
$8.15/hour. The S-7 substitute for the legislation, which ultimately passed,
increases the wage to $8.15/hour in September of 2014, to $8.50/hour on January
1, 2015, to $8.85/hour on January 1, 2016, and to $9.20/hour on January 1,
2017. Further, the measure includes an annual inflation adjustment not to
exceed the inflation rate or 4 percent after 2017 and prevents the wage from
rising if the state’s unemployment rate exceeds 10 percent.
Tipped
workers wage would go from $2.65/hour to $3.10/hour on September 1st
of this year, to $3.23/hour on January 1, 2015, to $3.36/hour on January 1,
2016, and to $3.50/hour on January 1, 2017.
The
bill passed the Senate 24-14 with most of the opposition coming from
Republicans. Twelve of the 26 Republican members voted “no” while ten of the twelve
Democratic members of the Senate voted “yes.”
Significantly,
the legislation repeals the current
minimum wage law and replaces it with a new law. If passed and signed by
Governor Snyder, the legislation would bring to question the validity of the
ballot initiative currently being pursued to increase the minimum wage
gradually to $10.10 per hour, as the proposal seeks to do so by amending the
statute Senator Richardville’s legislation would repeal.