Update: The bill has been removed today’s agenda.
A bill to raise the minimum wage in Louisiana goes before the Senate Labor Committee today. Democrat new Orleans Senator Gary Carter brings the measure, which would raise the minimum hourly wage to $10 for January 1st of next year. “LAPolitics.com” publisher Jeremy Alford says similar bills have been filed for every session since Governor John Bel Edwards took office, but none have been passed…:
“I have a hard time believing lawmakers will, all of a sudden, decide to reverse course on this issue and do something different.”
Carter’s bill would also provide for periodic raises in minimum wage; eventually taking it up to $14-an-hour by 2028. The fiscal cost to the state of Louisiana would be slight the first; less that $200-thousand…but by 2028 that would grow to nearly $3-million. Alford says it’s interesting to note lawmakers are discussing pay raises for teachers, first responder and especially themselves…:
“…but I don’t think we’re going to see any kind of pay increase for your ‘mom & pop’ everyday worker in Louisiana.”
Alford says bills to set a higher minimum wage within the state have failed repeatedly in the past…:
“It’s unpopular with business and industry, and that make it unpopular with conservative lawmakers who have a majority at the Capitol.”
Alford says, even if the committee advances the bill to floor debate, he doubts it has enough to support to make final passage.
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