Sen. Leach still pushing $15 minimum wage

Sen. Daylin Leach is once again pushing legislation to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour.

HARRISBURG » State Sen. Daylin Leach (D-Montgomery/Delaware) Thursday reintroduced his bill to raise the state’s minimum hourly wage to $15. The bill would also index the minimum wage to inflation and eliminate the tipped minimum wage.

Pennsylvania’s minimum hourly wage is $7.25, the minimum required by federal law. Twenty nine states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands have enacted minimum hourly wages greater than $7.25, including all of the states that border Pennsylvania: New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

“An economy that forces full-time workers to toil in poverty is clearly in need of repair,” Leach said. “While corporations shower their executives with extravagant bonuses, lavish benefits, and golden parachutes, they force their own employees to supplement meager wages with government assistance programs, all at the taxpayers’ expense. It’s time for employers to pay their fair share and for workers to get a fair shake.”

Leach explained his proposal to his Senate colleagues in a co-sponsorship memo.

This is the third time Leach has introduced the proposal, which will be known as Senate Bill 150. It was known as Senate Bill 836 during the 2015-2016 session and as Senate Bill 1317 during the 2013-2014 session.

State Sen. Daylin Leach, D-17th