House leadership made its final pitch to amass the votes to pass a minimum wage bill late Thursday evening, but the rally was stalled until Saturday when lawmakers discovered a technical error in the bill up for a vote.
Democrats are torn between the Senate’s version of a bill to increase the state’s minimum wage more over a longer term and an amendment offered up Thursday to raise the wage sooner.
The House General, Housing and Military Affairs Committee on Thursday pitched a plan to increase the hourly wage to $9.25 on Jan. 1, $9.75 in 2016 and $10.10 in 2017.
This latest leadership-backed proposal is similar to the Shumlin administration’s three-year phase-in to $10.10. Party leadership asked fellow Democrats to cast a “disciplined” vote and support the committee’s amendment.
A vote on the minimum wage hike may not happen at all, unless minority leaders agree to suspend rules to expedite its consideration.
House Speaker Shap Smith said the amendment would raise the minimum wage 10 cents more than the Senate’s proposal by next year.
“I appreciate why the Senate proposal is attractive, because four years from now – four years from now – it will be a higher wage. But you know what, for three years, under the proposal we have here, people are going to have more money in their pockets,” Smith told a Democratic caucus Thursday night.
The House this year passed a bill to increase the minimum wage currently set at $8.73 per hour to $10.10 on Jan. 1. But the Shumlin administration wants to achieve this increase over three years instead to give businesses more time to adapt to the changes.
House Majority Whip Kate Webb, D-Shelburne, said lawmakers should back a proposal that the “governor will support.”
“And I ask you to stick with us on this,” she told a Democratic caucus.
But some House Democrats want Vermont’s minimum wage earners to receive a greater bump in the long term.
The Senate this week approved a four-year, tiered phased-in increase of the minimum wage: $9.15 by Jan. 1, 2015; $9.60 in 2016; $10 in 2017 and $10.50 by 2018. Some House lawmakers say this is a better deal.
Rep. George Till, D-Jericho, was among the lawmakers supportive of the Senate’s proposal.
“The point is, that into perpetuity – into perpetuity – if we’re ahead in four years, people stay further ahead,” he said.
Nonetheless, Smith said the committee’s proposal puts more money into people’s pockets sooner.
“And I think that that is worth voting for rather than the delayed gratification of a higher minimum wage in 2018,” he said. “I really do think that its better for us to get money is people’s pockets next year.”
Rep. Rebecca Ellis, D-Waterbury, said it’s possible the committee’s proposal will match the Senate’s if inflation hits 5 percent.
“In 2018, the Senate proposal is $10.50. The House proposal can go up by up to 5 percent depending on what the Consumer Price Index is. If it goes up 5 percent, we have inflation, then the House proposal will be higher. It will be $10.60,” she said.
Some lawmakers want the House to hold to its original proposal. Rep. Chris Pearson, P-Burlington, said residents supported it.
“Were you flooded with emails and complaints about the outrage by passing $10.10 by next January?” Pearson asked lawmakers Thursday. “I didn’t hear one, not one.”
“If fact, when I talk with folks at the corner store or the gas station, they pat me on the back,” he said. “And they say this doesn’t go far enough.”
Rep. Paul Poirier, I-Barre, proposed reinstating the House’s original proposal, but his amendment was later rejected.
“What has changed in six weeks?” he told House lawmakers. “Do we say no to this vulnerable population? Or do we say yes in helping them empower themselves so they get a little more dignity and independence from having to be on a social system?”
When the House proposal passed, Gov. Peter Shumlin issued the following statement. “I thank the Legislature for doing the right thing for working Vermonters by raising the minimum wage. Everyone who puts in a full day’s work deserves a paycheck that will give their family a fighting chance,” Shumlin said. “This bill will phase in a higher wages in line with many of our neighboring states, and I will be proud to sign it.”
