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New Hampshire Raising Minimum Wage |
Although Republicans in Congress have delayed raising the federal minimum wage, states are moving ahead with their own pay raises. The latest action is in the New Hampshire legislature, described here by Christine Silvia-DeGennaro in the AFL-CIO Legislative Department.
New Hampshire is one of 13 states with a minimum wage of $5.15 an hour and is the only state in the Northeast that does not have a higher minimum than the federal rate. But that is about to change, thanks to legislation passed this morning by the state Senate, which approved a $2.10 an hour increase.
The two-step increase will raise the New Hampshire minimum wage to $6.50 an hour Sept. 1, 2007, and to $7.25 an hour Sept. 1, 2008.
The Senate overwhelmingly passed the bill (H.R. 514) on a 19-5 vote; the House gave approval April 4 on a 286-69 vote. The legislation will be sent to Gov. John Lynch (D), who is expected to sign the bill.
The state’s minimum wage has not been raised since 1997, when the second part of the two-step federal minimum wage increase to $5.15 went into effect.
Advocates campaigning to raise the New Hampshire minimum fought off an amendment that would have frozen the state’s cash wage for tipped workers at its current level of $2.38. The cash wage for tipped workers will instead be set at 45 percent of the state minimum wage, rising in two steps from $2.38 to $3.26.
Regarding this morning’s vote, New Hampshire AFL-CIO President Mark MacKenzie said:
Today’s vote helps the poorest citizens of the state and sends a message that ”you are not forgotten.”
New Hampshire will be the fourth state this year to enact a minimum wage hike above the federal level. Iowa, Kentucky and New Mexico passed laws boosting their minimum wage rates earlier this year. Since the beginning of 2006, a total of 22 states have passed minimum wage increases.
Meanwhile, at the federal level, a $2.10 increase in the minimum wage is headed to the president’s desk. Yesterday, the House passed the Iraq war spending bill, which includes a $2.10 increase in the federal minimum to $7.25 in three steps.
The Iraq war spending bill was passed by the Senate today and will be sent to President Bush, who has promised to veto the legislation.
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