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| Rep. Lynn Bechler voted against a measure to bump the state's minimum wage. |
LEGISLATIVE RESEARCH COMMISSION
The state’s hourly minimum wage would increase for the first time since 2009 under a bill that passed the House today
by a 54-44 vote.
Rep. Lynn Bechler (R-Marion) did not support the measure.
Under
House Bill 1, sponsored by House Speaker Greg Stumbo (D-Prestonsburg)
Kentucky’s minimum wage would increase in increments from the current
rate of $7.25 up to $10.10. The bill calls
for the minimum wage to rise to $8.20 an hour this year, then to $9.15
an hour in July 2015, before ending at $10.10 an hour in 2016. It would
also require Kentucky workers be paid equal wages for equal work,
regardless of sex, race, or national origin, with
a few exceptions.
The
bill was amended by the House to exempt employees of what Stumbo called
“mom-and-pop businesses” with average annual gross sales of $500,000 or
less for the last five years (excluding
excise tax) from the proposed wage increase.
Stumbo
said a minimum wage worker in Kentucky currently earns around $15,080 a
year. More than 400,000 Kentuckians – which is a little over 9 percent of
the state’s total population – would be
affected by an increase in the minimum wage, Stumbo said, adding that a
large percentage of affected workers would be women.
“I believe those are small increases for the increased morale and work productivity you will see,” said Stumbo.
Opponents
of the legislation included House Minority Leader Jeff Hoover (R-Jamestown), who said HB 1 would ultimately increase the state’s minimum
wage by 39 percent. That, he explained, would
burden entities like local governments and public school districts – the
latter which he said would be impacted by more than $40 million over the
next decade, should HB 1 pass.
While
HB 1 does not address an increase in the minimum wage for tipped
workers, such as restaurant servers, another bill passed by a vote of
57-40 in the House today that would. HB 191, sponsored
by Rep. Will Coursey (D-Symsonia) would raise that wage from $2.13 an
hour to $3 an hour this year, then incrementally each year until the
wage is 70 percent of the state minimum wage for non-tipped employees,
addressed in HB 1.
Bechler also voted against HB 191.
Both bills now go to the Senate.
