Largest minimum wage hike in U.S. enacted
Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill Wednesday enacting a largest-in-the-nation minimum wage increase.
Brown told reporters at the signing that raising the minimum wage was her top priority for the 2016 legislative session. The law takes effect July 1 with a 50-cent increase in the statewide minimum wage.
Brown said the new law will help working Oregonians who have trouble affording basic necessities get “a little closer to the American dream.”
Thousands of families in Oregon live on minimum wage, which supporters of the bill say can make it difficult to afford housing, food, child care and other goods and services.
President Obama said Congress needs to follow Oregon’s example and raise the federal minimum wage — now at $7.25 an hour, the Associated Press reported.
“I commend the Oregon Legislature and Governor Kate Brown for taking action to raise their state’s minimum wage,” Obama said in a statement.
Oregon’s plan follows moves in states such as Massachusetts, California and Vermont that recently boosted statewide minimums above $10.
Passing the minimum wage increase was no small feat.
Lobbyists for business and labor groups were firmly camped on opposite sides of the wage debate.
The labor groups filed ballot measures to raise the minimum wage. That effectively forced the Legislature to come up with its own solution before a costly and potentially politically damaging ballot measure fight ensued.
The compromise developed between legislators and business and labor lobbyists is nov- el because it creates three minimum wage tiers for the state.
The first tier is the base wage, which is now $9.25 and will increase to $13.50 by 2022. The second tier is the Portland wage, which will increase to $14.75 by 2022. The third tier is the rural wage which will increase to $12.50 by 2022.
After 2022, the base wage will be adjusted for inflation, with the Portland wage tied $1.25 above and the rural wage $1 below the base wage.