Minimum Wage Pproposal Receives Committee Hearing in House

March 8, 2009 (View Status Update March 22, 2009)

After years of working to raise the Kansas minimum wage, we are finally making progress.  On February 19, the Kansas Senate voted overwhelmingly- 33-7 - to raise the state minimum wage to $7.25 beginning January 1, 2010.  On Thursday, the House Commerce and Labor Committee held a hearing on this proposal, Senate Bill 160. 

Currently, the Kansas minimum wage is $2.65 per hour- the lowest in the nation.  The last minimum wage increase was approved more than 20 years ago, in 1988.  Approximately 20,000 Kansans work for this rate, which even at 40 hours a week keeps the worker well below the poverty line.

Senate Bill 160 is the result of bipartisan compromise in the Senate.  The raise wage would not apply to workers receiving tips and gratuities (such as servers and bartenders).  Instead the increase would apply to employees of businesses that are not a part of interstate commerce.  This includes workers in about 20 job classifications, including workers on small farms, in small industries, child care facilities, and in companion care.  

Proponents have long argued that a minimum wage increase will lead to several benefits, including a more self-sufficient citizenry, consumers with greater purchasing power, a more motivated and productive workforce, more cash flow in the local economy, new jobs and new businesses through a multiplier effect, and a healthier tax base.  It would also generate $3.6 million in revenue for the state in FY 2010.   The minimum wage as it currently exists would perpetuate a state economy with 12.4% of the population living in poverty, which leads to family instability, a strain on social service agencies, a higher cost of doing business from turnover and absenteeism, and a low tax base.

Year after year this bill has been blocked by opponents who contend that no one in Kansas actually earns $2.65 per hour, making a wage increase – or perhaps even a minimum wage at all- unnecessary.  The Kansas Department of Labor, however, estimates that most of the 20,000 Kansans earning less than the federal minimum wage are not teenagers, but heads of households and providers, and are disproportionately women.  These statistics are calculated using the same dataset trusted by economists and government officials to calculate every other trusted labor statistic (such as unemployment). 

This bill is long overdue.  In these uncertain economic times, we are working hard to keep our state economy headed in the right direction.  The Kansas Legislature has supported over $1.2 billion in targeted tax relief over the past four years to encourage business investment.  It’s now time for us all to shift that focus to the folks who need it most: the 20,000 Kansas working for $2.65 an hour. 

This is not a political issue.  Kansans working for the shameful Kansas minimum wage rate struggle to provide food and shelter for their families.  More than anything else, this is a moral issue.  Kansans has always been a place that honors hard work.  If workers are willing to show up and do their job as best they can- even in the direst of circumstances- they deserve a wage that dignifies their effort and commitment to their families.  Though there were other minimum wage proposals introduced in the House Commerce and Labor Committee, none of those bills received a committee hearing.  It is time for the House to follow the lead of the Senate and see this issue through to the finish line.

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Paid for by Cindy Neighbor for State Representative - Kathleen Jenkins, Treasurer