Prospects dimming for minimum wage increase
A proposed increase in the state's minimum is looking less certain this session.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said the issue was discussed this morning during a meeting with Gov. Mark Dayton and House Speaker Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis. Bakk said they did not reach and agreement, and he thinks the chances are now "unlikely."
"The House is very dug in on a $9.00 rate, and the votes are just not there in the Senate to go that high," Bakk said.
The Senate passed legislation last week to increase the state's minimum wage to $7.75 an hour by 2015. The House passed a bill a week earlier to set the rate at $9.50 an hour by 2015, with automatic future increases based on inflation. Gov. Dayton has said he would support a new rate in the $9.00 to $9.50 range.
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So far, the issue has been part of the global budget negotiations rather than in conference committee.
Bakk said he thinks lawmakers will have to work during the interim on the minimum wage issue, and bring back a compromise in the 2014 session.
Thissen said he believe the House bill is the right position to serve working people of the state.
"We think very strongly that we need to get a good minimum wage that people can really live on," Thissen said.
Thissen said he remains hopeful that an agreement on the minimum wage increase can be reached in conference committee, but he added that it might not come until next year.