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Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20150&cosponId=18215
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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2015 - 2016 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: April 29, 2015 12:32 PM
From: Senator Daylin Leach
To: All Senate members
Subject: Minimum Wage
 
In the near future I will introduce legislation which will raise the minimum wage in Pennsylvania to $15 per hour and permanently index it to inflation.

Last session I introduced legislation raising the minimum wage to $12 per hour. However, several things have changed since then which, in my view, justify the introduction of an updated bill. First, yet another year has passed with no increase in the minimum wage, allowing the wages of our lowest-paid workers to atrophy even more, which drives them even deeper into poverty. Second, given Governor Corbett's views on the minimum wage, I wanted to introduce a modest bill in an effort to induce him to engage in the discussion. Given Governor Wolf's different views, a real livable wage is now possible.

The $15 per hour figure is what would be required to lift minimum wage workers with families out of poverty. Keep in mind that if the minimum wage had kept pace with labor productivity, it would now be over $21 per hour. And if it had kept pace proportionately with CEO pay, it would be much higher than that.

The benefits of an increase in the minimum wage to low-wage workers are obvious. But here is an excellent article discussing the benefits to the economy as a whole: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2013-06-19/the-capitalist-s-case-for-a-15-minimum-wage.

I hope you will join me in sponsoring this important legislation.

If you have questions about this legislation, please contact my Legislative Director, Jon Tew, at jtew@pasenate.com or 610-768-4200.



Introduced as SB836