A bill that would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour is seeing what its sponsor describes as a flurry of last-minute amendments.
Senate Bill 15 has 10 amendments on the table, all but one from Republican legislators.
The bill could be headed to a vote today.
The current minimum wage is $9.25 an hour and is slated to increase to $10.25 in October with no further increases scheduled.
The state’s minimum wage progression has led to confusion in national circles, with some sites already listing the $10.25 figure.
Amendments include:
- Delaying dates of increases toward $15 an hour by a year.
- Employes having fewer than 100 workers paying 85% of the minimum wage.
- A $13.25 minimum wage in 2024. The $13.25 figure is based on increases in the cost of living.
- The lone Democrat filing n amendment, Sherae’a Moore, D-Middletown, proposed delaying each increase in the minimum wage by one year for small businesses with 20 or fewer employees. California, a state on its way to a $15 an hour wage, has a provision that lowers the minimum wage by a dollar an hour for employers with 25 or fewer workers.
The bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Jack Walsh, D-Stanton-Newport, issued the following:
“Senate Bill 15 was sent to the Delaware House of Representatives a full three months ago and was released from the House Economic [Everything] Committee back in April. It’s disappointing that only now, with just days left in this year’s legislative session, we’re seeing a flurry of filed amendments that seek to delay implementation or provide carve-outs benefitting favored employers.
“Senate Bill 15 represents months of compromise with the business community. Our decision to gradually raise Delaware’s minimum hourly wage over a four-year period is a direct result of concessions we made at the request of business stakeholders.”
A large number of amendments is typically viewed as a way to slow down consideration of a bill that has a good chance of passage.
The Delaware Restaurant Association, in urging members to send online letters to legislators opposing the bill, stated that the legislation has the votes needed for passage.
Earlier in the session, a. bill that abolished a temporary lower training and youth wage was passed and awaits the governor’s signature.
The youth and training wages resulted from a last-minute compromise with Republicans holding up a budget bill.
