[I]n nearly simultaneous votes on Friday afternoon, two legislative committees voted out minimum wage and paid family leave bills without their recommendation, further endangering measures that already faced fraught paths forward.
The bills were at the heart of the Democratic agenda heading into this legislative session.
The House Appropriations Committee voted out S.40, which would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024, without its seal of approval. The bill now heads to the House floor for consideration.
The Senate Appropriations Committee took the same action on H.196, which would create a six-week paid family care program funded by an employee payroll tax. The proposal now moves to the full Senate, without the committee’s recommendation.
After Friday’s vote, Rep. Kitty Toll, D-Danville, who chairs the committee, and Rep. Mary Hooper, D-Montpelier, who sits on the panel, said members “agonized” over their decision on the minimum wage proposal.
The committee found it difficult to come to consensus on the proposal largely because economists draw different conclusions about the outcomes of raising the wage, Toll said.
While some say it puts more money into the economy and the pockets of individuals, others say it leads businesses to transition to hiring fewer employees and increases the cost of goods.
“And so it made for a difficult discussion because it wasn’t black and white,” she said.
Hooper made the motion to offer the proposal without the committee’s recommendation because the committee would not have been able to come to a consensus, she said.
“I think at the end of the day, I felt we owed it to the body to allow that discussion to happen on the floor, rather to end the discussion here,” she said.
Members voted 6-4 to bring the proposal to the floor without their recommendation. One member was absent.
Toll said one of the committee’s concerns with raising the wage focused on the so-called “benefits cliff.”
Under a higher minimum wage, low wage earners would be bringing in more household income, which could mean they risk losing benefits such as child care subsidies.
“How much would you actually come out ahead?” Toll said. “There was a lot of discussion and a lot of angst around child care rates.”
Rep. Peter Fagan, R-Rutland, the committee’s vice chair, said he heard concerns from small businesses who believed they would be burdened by the increased wage. One business told him it would have to cut benefits it provides its employees if the hike was put in place.
“I did not receive a single communique from anyone saying ‘Support this’ who owns a store a business or otherwise,” he said.
In the Senate Appropriations Committee, members voted out the paid family leave proposal without their recommendation in a vote of 6-0, with one member absent.
In a statement, Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden and a member of that committee, said he was “grateful” the bill was voted out at all, with just days left in the session.
“The bill has moved through three committees since our crossover deadline, and has sufficient support to merit an up or down vote in the Senate,” he said.
“I’m also glad the House will get a chance to vote to increase the minimum wage, which will increase the wages of tens of thousands of low wage workers whose income has stagnated in the economy.”
Ashe has made raising the pay threshold for workers in Vermont a top priority this biennium. House members said earlier in the session that Ashe was stalling the paid family leave bill, though he disputed that.
Sen. Dick McCormack, D-Windsor, who sits on the appropriations committee, said Friday night that he would have preferred to vote out the proposal with the panel’s support.
But he believes it still stands a chance on the Senate floor.
“I think it’s a good idea and trust my colleagues,” he said of the bill and upcoming vote.
The paid family leave program would be solely funded by a 0.141 percent payroll tax paid by employees. “Workers themselves pay into a fund to make this work,” McCormack said.
House Speaker Mitzi Johnson said Friday night that despite the vote in House Appropriations, she expects the minimum wage bill will pass this session.
“I am feeling all right about how it’s moving forward on the House side,” she said. “There is a real interest in making sure that Vermonters get a decent wage for the work that they are doing, particularly at a time where businesses are getting a 250 to 300 million dollars in federal tax changes.”
Johnson said that with new corporate tax breaks from the federal government, businesses in Vermont could afford to pay employees a higher wage.
Even if the paid leave and minimum wage bills made it to the governor’s desk this session, they are unlikely to be signed into law.
Gov. Phil Scott has declared opposition to both proposals, and both bills were on his veto list sent to lawmakers earlier in the session.
Democrats don’t have the numbers to override a veto, and House Republican leaders have said they intend to make sure the governor’s vetoes stand.
Anne Galloway contributed reporting.
