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Capitol View®
Tim Pugmire

Minimum wage amendment bill advances, leaders plan private talks

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A Minnesota Senate panel has approved a bill that would let voters decide whether to link future minimum wage increases to inflation.

The proposed constitutional amendment cleared the Senate Jobs, Agriculture and Rural Development Committee today on a divided voice vote. Democrats favored it, while Republicans opposed it. No one who testified at the committee spoke in favor of the bill.

Neither supporters nor opponents of the minimum wage increase want the issue placed on the statewide ballot.

Conference committee negotiations on a minimum wage increase have stalled, because the House wants indexing and the Senate does not.

Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope said her amendment bill could help break the current log jam.

“Probably almost all of us are on board at $9.50 (an hour),” Rest said. “So, the amount of the minimum wage is no longer an issue. What has become the sticking point is the issue of inflation.”

Mike Hickey of the National Federation of Independent Businesses said a constitutional amendment would set a terrible precedent.

“It’s just a bad idea,” Hickey said. “You need to make these decisions. That’s why you’re here, and I strongly urge you not to go down this road.”

Jennifer Schaubach of the Minnesota AFL-CIO had a similar message.

“Constitutional amendments are not the best way to form public policy,” Schaubach said. “It is best formed here at the Legislature.”

The bill now moves to the Senate Rules Committee.

With the conference committee unable to make any headway, Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk-DFL-Cook, said he planned to meet next week with House Speaker Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, to try to reach a deal on the minimum wage increase. Bakk still insists that there are not enough DFL votes in the Senate to pass an increase with indexing. But he said the Senate might be open to a different approach.

“I think we could talk about the commissioner of [the Department of ] Labor and Industry making some recommendations to a future Legislature," Bakk said. "There may be some language we could get the votes for.”

Bakk also said that an hourly rate higher than $9.50 could be discussed.

Speaker Thissen confirmed that they plan to meet next week. But he said he still wants indexing in the bill.

“I just don’t know why we would pass the minimum wage and let it deteriorate immediately,” Thissen said.