A one page bill introduced this week would increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
The bill was introduced by Delaware State Sen. Jack Walsh, D-Stanton and has several co-sponsors, all Democrats.
The bill calls for the minimum wage to rise each year until reaching $15 an hour by 2025.
https://storage.googleapis.com/delawarebusinessnow-cdn/2021/03/SB15.pdf
The focus on a higher minimum wage shifted to Dover after an effort by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 hour failed to get enough votes. Both of Delaware’s U.S. senators voted against the bill.
The state’s current minimum wage of $9.75 and hour will increase to $10.25 an hour in October.
The current minimum wage also comes with a lower training and teen wage.
In the past, an increase in the minimum wage has been opposed by chambers of commerce, the restaurant industry and other groups who claim the measure would drive up costs, lead to high teen unemployment, and increase joblessness.
Backers of the bill say a higher minimum wage would help adults living in poverty. They also say a disproportionate number of Black and Hispanic workers are paid the minimum wage.
Neighboring Maryland is current on a path to a $15 minimum wage by 2025.
A related bill calls for an increase in the minimum wage for restaurant servers to 65 percent of the minimum wage.
Under the current system servers receive a minimum wage of $2.23 an hour. The restaurant pays the difference if tips don’t equal the minimum wage.