Initiative to increase Maine's minimum wage headed to legislature
A citizen’s initiative looking to increase the state’s minimum wage is on its way to the Maine Legislature following a successful petitioning campaign that received 75,275 valid signatures supporting the wage increase.
The submitted initiative would raise Maine’s minimum wage to $9 per hour next year, with a $1 increase an hour per year until 2020 – when the minimum wage would reach $12 per hour. Following the $12 point, the minimum wage would then increase at the same rate as the cost of living.
Workers that receive tips would see their minimum wage increase to $5 per hour in 2015, followed by a $1 yearly increase until it matched the minimum wage for all other workers, which would occur no sooner than 2024.
The petitions for “An Act to Raise the Minimum Wage” had been in circulation since June of last year, with the Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions receiving the signatures in January.
The initiative now goes before the Maine Legislature, which has the possibility of enacting the increase, but it’s more likely that lawmakers will choose to allow Maine residents to make a decision with a statewide vote, according to The Portland Press Herald.
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