Proposal to raise the wage floor to $13 an hour lacks legislative momentum
BY JACOB PALMER | DIGITAL NEWS EDITOR
House Speaker Tina Kotek’s proposal to raise the wage floor to $13 an hour lacks legislative momentum.
Kotek’s proposal received a hearing after being proposed earlier this month, but the legislature’s fight over a transportation deal took up most of the remaining time in this session.
Even if the House were to pass a similar bill during the Legislature’s monthlong session next year, it would face a hard road in the more moderate Senate. Senate President Peter Courtney, D-Salem, has said repeatedly he doesn’t support raising the minimum wage. Activists, growing impatient as other West Coast cities such as Seattle and Los Angeles have approved $15 minimums, have already filed petitions to put a hike to $15 minimum wage on the 2016 ballot.
“I think there’s a high likelihood that if it goes to the ballot Oregonians will vote for a higher minimum wage,” Kotek said.
(SOURCE: OregonLive.com)
More than 12 bills that aimed to increase the minimum wage were proposed by Democrats this session.
