Senate leaders on Monday muscled through a bill to raise the minimum wage on state contracts, defeating amendments and cutting off debate as Republicans tried to slow the measure from its almost certain passage in the House of Delegates.
Strongly lobbied by Gov. Martin O?Malley, the bill would raise the living wage on state contracts to $11.50per hour in the Baltimore-Washington corridor and $8.30 in rural areas, including Harford and Carroll counties.
“It doesn?t make them rich, it makes them a little not so poor,” Senate Finance Chairman Thomas Mac Middleton, D-Charles, told his colleagues. It would give a wage earner an annual income of about $16,000.
Republicans repeatedly tried to amend the bill, but Democrats resisted any amendments that would be unacceptable to the House. After discussing the measure several times Monday, the Senate voted to limit all debate to 30 minutes. Senate GOP leader David Brinkley, Frederick, said there was no reason for the haste, other than political expediency.
“We don?t have enough information,” complained Sen. Lowell Stoltzfus, R-Somerset. He repeatedly asked Middleton to estimate the cost of the bill, and speculated that it would cost 1 percent to 2 percent per contract, as much as $50 million to $100 million per year.
But Middleton said they weren?t sure how much it would cost.
“We?re passing something pretty much in ignorance,” Stoltzfus said.
The Finance Committee on Saturday had exempted employers on state contracts worth less than $500,000 or which had fewer than 10 employees.
The bill also allows employers to pay less than the living wage if they also pay for employee health insurance.
“The governor ran on a platform of helping working families,” Middleton said. “These are the poorest of working families.”
The bill was strongly supported by organized labor.
