One question employers are asking us is about any changes to
the minimum wage. Unless you have purposely not been paying attention to the
news and stopped reading the newspaper you have probably heard some reference
to an increase in the Oregon minimum wage to $15 per hour. There are several
bills on this matter in the Oregon legislature. In Cardinal’s last Legislative
Update we reviewed three bills. They were:
House Bill 2008 –
This bill would raise the hourly minimum wage to meet the federal poverty line
for a family of four. In 2017 minimum wage would be set to $12.20 and increased
yearly depending on the federal poverty line.
House Bill 2009 –
Increases the minimum wage to $15.00 by 2018. Subsequent increases would be
tied to inflation.
House Bill 2012 –
The minimum wage under HB 2012 would increase to $13.50 in 2017. Like HB 2009,
subsequent increases would be tied to inflation.
All three bills have been referred to the House Committee on
Rules. No future events are scheduled to move these bills forward at this time.
Does this mean efforts to increase the minimum wage have come to a standstill?
The legislature is still in session and could still act. However the emphasis
on paid sick leave may be the legislature’s more pressing priority. But note
that often priorities in a prior legislative session are brought forward to the
next session. In the meantime, proponents of a hike in the minimum wage have
filed a ballot measure for the 2016 election to raise the minimum wage to
$15.00 by 2019.
If you would like to keep up on these bills and the proposed
ballot measure you can view them here:
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