S.23 – AN ACT RELATING TO INCREASING THE MINIMUM WAGE
PASSED
in the State House of Representatives
on January 24, 2020, by a vote of
93-54
.
Purpose: To raise the state minimum wage from the current mark $10.96 to $12.55 by 2022, with increases tied to inflation afterward
.
Analysis: This version of S.23 would increase the minimum wage to $11.75 in 2021 and $12.55 in 2022. Each year afterwards, the minimum wage would be increased by the rate of the inflation, that is, “CPI.” The Consumer Price Index (CPI) level is calculated by the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics and is expected to be 2.4% per year in the near term.
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Those voting YES believe the positive impact of raising the minimum wage (putting more money into some people’s pockets) will outweigh the negative impacts.
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Those voting NO believe the negative impacts of increasing the minimum wage (eliminating some low-wage jobs, potential cutbacks in hours for low wage employees, the potential loss of benefits greater than wage increases for workers earning a higher wage, overall decline in economic activity, higher prices for goods and services particularly as they impact Vermonters living on fixed incomes, the impact on healthcare services funded through Medicaid, the impact on child care costs, financial burden on struggling small businesses, and the implications regarding the “benefits cliff”), outweigh the positive impacts.
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As Recorded in the House Journal, Friday, January 24, 2020: “…Rep. Krowinski of Burlington demanded the Yeas and Nays, which demand was sustained by the Constitutional number. The Clerk proceeded to call the roll and the question, Shall the report of the Committee of Conference be adopted? was decided in the affirmative…. (Read the Journal, p. 181-188.)
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