Mitch Perry
Gov. Rick Scott and state of Florida are joining a lawsuit against Miami Beach over an attempt by the city to ultimately raise its minimum wage to $13.31 an hour.
After Miami Beach approved a measure last year raising its minimum wage ordinance, Mayor Philip Levine predicted the state would challenge the proposal in court. Levine said the ordinance violates a state law signed by Scott that forbids such measures.
On Wednesday, the state did just that, by signing on to a suit filed in December by three of the state’s largest trade groups challenging Miami Beach on the ordinance.
“It’s truly unnerving that the state of Florida, under the leadership of Governor Rick Scott has joined the special-interest-backed lawsuit against the residents of Miami Beach who feel the pressure of wage stagnation,” Levine said Thursday. “We know that wages have not kept up with the cost of living, which is felt more acutely in South Florida communities like Miami Beach.
“Our residents and workers are counting on their leaders to stand up for them after seeing Tallahassee continuously roadblock progress.”
Levine, a Democrat seriously considering a run for governor next year, first proposed increasing his city’s living wage in May 2016; city commissioners approved the measure a few months later.
Scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, 2018, the proposal would gradually increase the living wage to $10.31, increasing over four years to $13.31.
The new minimum wage will apply to all workers employed in the City of Miami Beach, as well as those covered by the federal minimum wage.
The Florida Retail Federation, Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association and the Florida Chamber of Commerce filed a lawsuit in December challenging the ordinance. They claim it’s a direct violation of a 2013 law signed by the governor forbidding municipalities from assigning their own minimum wage.
But attorneys for Miami Beach argue the state law is unconstitutional since voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2004 that allows local governments to set higher minimum wage.
Originally pegged at $6.15 an hour, it’s now $8.10 an hour.
“If the state challenges us, the courts will have to decide,” he told FloridaPolitics.com last year.
As to what Levine is saying to the governor today?
“So, to the state, I say, see you in court.”
One comment
Kendra
February 3, 2017 at 10:07 am
This is a pretty interesting question, actually. Let me first note that all of these states (including Florida) that are passing state laws prohibiting localities form raising their minimum wage are basing those laws on ALEC model legislation. ALEC, and its legislative members, are wholly owned subsidiaries of big corporations/big business. So these types of laws shouldn’t really surprise anyone; the lawmakers in support of them are craven, corrupt, and bought and paid for. They claim to be about “States rights,” but they are completely against county and local rights. This makes no sense in a place like Florida, where north FL is absolutely nothing like central FL is nothing like south FL. Cost of living is wildly different among these regions. But I digress.
Here is the provision of that Constitutional Amendment in question: “This amendment provides for payment of a minimum wage and shall not be construed to preempt or otherwise limit the authority of the state legislature or any other public body to adopt or enforce any other law, regulation, requirement, policy or standard that provides for payment of higher or supplemental wages or benefits.”
This is in the part of the amendment concerning construction (interpretation) of the amendment. The city will argue that this part states that the amendment envisioned that localities and cities (“other public bodies”) would have a right to increase minimum wage beyond how much the state raises it based on inflation.
The State will argue that this was merely a point about how to interpret the amendment and didn’t confer any substantive right on cities or on the people of those cities to raise wages further. In other words, this part merely states that the amendment won’t be construed to prevent localities from raising the minimum wage further; that does not prevent the state from later passing a state-wide law making this illegal. State will likely win, unfortunately.
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