Push begins to hike minimum wage

Advocates, Md. lawmakers seek to raise benchmark pay in state to $15 by 2023

Advocates and lawmakers began their push Monday to gradually raise Maryland’s minimum wage to $15 by 2023, a starting point for negotiations on what’s expected to be one of the hottest topics of this year’s General Assembly session.

The state’s minimum wage is currently $10.10 per hour.

“For far too long, working families in Maryland have been struggling to cover the cost of their basic necessities,” said Delegate Diana Fennell, a Prince George’s County Democrat who is sponsoring the bill with Sen. Cory McCray, a Baltimore Democrat. Fennell said the increase “is long overdue.” At a news conference flanked by dozens of supporters, Fennell and McCray urged fellow lawmakers to sponsor a “clean bill” without exemptions that would whittle away the benefits of a wage increase.

“We know that right now is the time to pass the minimum wage. … We know that at our hospitals, we know that our auto mechanics, we know the contractors for local government and state government do not make $15,” McCray said.

Fennell and McCray’s bill, which they expect to introduce Tuesday, would raise the minimum wage to $11 per hour later this year, then add $1 each year until reaching $15 in 2023.

After that, the minimum wage would be indexed to the rate of inflation, so it would automatically increase.

The bill also would remove exemptions from paying farm workers and some young employees the minimum wage.

The bill would allow any county to increase the minimum wage locally, as Montgomery County has. The minimum wage in Montgomery County is $12 for companies with fewer than 50 employees and $12.25 for larger companies. Montgomery’s minimum wage will rise to eventually reach $15.

Supporters of the statewide minimum wage bill — including unions, progressive groups and religious leaders — are hoping to avoid additions to the bill, such as provisions for different rates for small and large businesses or that would create different wages for different parts of the state. Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, a Democrat, has suggested minimum wages based on geography.

“We are absolutely opposed to any carveouts or attempts to weaken the bill,” said Ricarra Jones of the Service Employees International Union and the “Fight for $15” campaign.

Some pro-business groups are preparing for debates over the minimum wage. Michael O’Halloran, state director the National Federation of Independent Businesses, predicted an intense debate.

“This will be the issue of the session,” he said.

O’Halloran said many small businesses would struggle if they had to pay workers more.

“The idea of a one-size-fits-all mandate — whether it is a $15 minimum wage or a mandatory paid leave program — each business is unique, and when it comes to labor costs like this, you have to take each business one at a time,” O’Halloran said in an interview.