A.G. Gancarski
The citizens’ initiative to bump up the minimum wage is headed to the 2020 Florida ballot; the primary architect of that movement has plenty of thoughts about it.
On Friday, trial attorney John Morgan, who largely financed the ballot initiative to get a minimum wage amendment on the ballot, talked to Florida media.
And much of his messaging was aimed at Republican opponents of the proposal.
“We’ve spent millions of dollars to get to this point,” the Orlando lawyer noted of his “last crusade.”
Morgan noted that many of the legislators said to be “pushing back” against this, such as Rep. Jose Oliva and Sen. Bill Galvano and Gov. Ron DeSantis, have “had a lot of time … session after session … to do something about these inadequate wages.”
“If you have a better idea, do something,” Morgan said. “Put up or shut up.”
Morgan floated the idea of pulling the amendment if a legislative alternative were provided.
He framed the idea as an alternative to “food stamps … government handouts … free Whatever,” and mused that DeSantis might support this after all.
“This is as a conservative a move as I can think of,” Morgan noted.
If the amendment passes, the minimum wage, currently $8.46 an hour, would increase to $10 an hour on Sept. 30, 2021, and then would raise a dollar more a year until 2026.
Those who don’t support it, Morgan vowed, will be framed as “supporting an $8.46 minimum wage … forever.”
As with all ballot initiatives, 60% approval from voters will be necessary to enshrine this policy proposal in the Constitution.
“Is the Constitution the best way,” Morgan asked. “No, but it’s the only way.”
Morgan expressed confidence this could be done, as it had been done before.
Issues like medical marijuana, which the “beholden to special interests” legislature hadn’t handled, are left to the voters.
“This is the only way,” Morgan added.
Morgan’s comments focused on his impending mortality, as he noted that it would take years and incremental steps to hit that $15 target, and he may not be here to see it.
“I’m doing it because I believe that I’m supposed to. When I look at people,” Morgan said, “I actually feel their suffering.”
Morgan noted that the “housing crisis” would be fixed, as “with a fair wage, people can rent an apartment or buy a house.”
The proposed constitutional amendment that would raise Florida’s minimum wage to $15 in just a few years was approved Thursday by the Florida Supreme Court.
“They could have gone further,” Morgan said, noting the “strict Constructionist DeSantis court” passed on addressing the financial impact piece, as “the Constitution doesn’t allow us to go there, and won’t go there.”
“They were not an activist court … they did what was right,” Morgan added.
