Lawmakers tackle slew of minimum wage bills
The Joint Standing Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development will hold public hearings next week on a number of bills that seek to restore the "tip credit" used by restaurateurs, as well as other bills to modify or reverse the changes made to Maine's minimum wage law.
The minimum wage law was approved by voters in a referendum last November.
The public hearings will begin at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 5, in Room 208 of the Cross State Office Building in Augusta.
The Maine State Chamber of Commerce’s advisory about the hearings included this statement:
“We at the Maine State Chamber know that the increase in our minimum wage will impact different businesses in different ways. We would urge any concerned business owner to attend the public hearing and express your opinions to the committee on the impact of these changes — now and into the future — on you and your employees.”
Bills restoring the 'tip credit'
The morning session will involve these bills dealing with the restoration of the tip credit:
- LD 673, "An Act To Restore the Tip Credit to Maine's Minimum Wage Law”
- LD 702, "An Act To Restore the Tip Credit to Maine Employees." The chamber notes that the two bills aim to restore the “tip credit” eliminated by last fall’s referendum back into Maine law. The chamber said it supports both bills.
- A third bill, LD 1117, "Resolve, To establish the commission to study the phase-out of sub-minimum wage," seeks to study the phase-out of the tip credit and have the commission report back to the full Legislature with recommendations in 2019. The chamber opposes this bill.
Bills altering the new minimum wage changes
The afternoon public hearings are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. and deal with bills that seek in various ways to alter the minimum wage changes approved last fall.
These bills are:
- LD 774, “An Act To Create a Training Wage.” This bill provides a minimum hourly training wage of $1 above the federal minimum wage for a person who is 20 years of age or under and is a student at a secondary or postsecondary school.
- LD 775, "An Act To Prohibit the Minimum Wage from Exceeding the New England Average." This bill provides that the minimum wage may not exceed the average minimum wage paid in the New England states, as determined by the Maine commissioner of labor.
- LD 778, "An Act To Eliminate the Indexing of the Minimum Wage to Inflation." This bill eliminates the indexing of the minimum wage to inflation, which under current law is scheduled to begin on January 1, 2021.
- LD 831, "An Act To Base the Minimum Wage on a New England State Average and To Restore the Tip Credit." This bill provides that starting Jan. 1, 2018, the minimum hourly wage is the average minimum hourly wage in the New England states of New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island on July 1 of the previous year, as determined annually by the Maine commissioner of labor. It also restores the tip credit.
- LD 971, "An Act To Exempt Certain Employees from the Minimum Wage Laws." This bill exempts from the minimum wage laws an employee who has not attained 18 years of age, is claimed as a dependent on the income tax return of another person or is employed by a seasonal employer.
- LD 991, "An Act To Establish a Minimum Wage for Minors." This bill establishes a minimum hourly wage for minors that is 75% of the minimum hourly wage established for persons who are 18 years of age and older.
- LD 1005, "An Act Regarding Minimum Wage Increases." This bill eliminates the $1 per hour increases in the minimum wage scheduled for each of the next three years and eliminates increases in the minimum wage based on the increase in the cost of living starting in 2021. It also restores the tip credit to the minimum wage laws.
Maine Women's Lobby, Mainers for Fair Wages urge turnout
Maine Women’s Lobby, a nonprofit whose mission is to increase the economic, social, and political opportunities for Maine women and girls, joined Mainers for Fair Wages in issuing a call for supporters of the minimum wage increases to show up at Wednesday’s public hearings.
“No woman who works full time deserves to live in poverty,” the organization said in a written statement sent to Mainebiz. “Raising the minimum wage can help. Two-thirds of those earning the minimum wage in Maine are adult women. Additionally, nearly 72% of tipped workers in Maine are women. That’s why the Maine Women’s Lobby strongly supported increasing the minimum wage this past November — and Maine voters agreed.”
The organization noted that the median income for a Maine restaurant server is just $9.06 per hour, citing that as context for its support for retaining the tipped wages component of the minimum wage law approved in the November referendum. “That’s a problem for the many thousands of Mainers struggling to provide for themselves and their families while the cost of groceries, housing, heat, electricity and transportation keeps climbing,” the organization stated.
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