Drew Wilson
The Senate budget asks state agencies to report how the minimum wage amendment is impacting their bottom line.
Voters last year approved an amendment that would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026. The first uptick — from $8.65 an hour to $10 an hour — will take effect on Sept. 30. The wage then increases by a dollar every year until it hits $15, after which increases will come based on inflation.
The Senate budget includes funding to put the state ahead of the curve by ratcheting the minimum wage to $13 an hour. The increase is a priority of Senate President Wilton Simpson.
“Our budget brings wages up to $13 per hour more than three years in advance of the timeline outlined in the constitutional amendment that passed last fall, which will benefit more than 10,000 state workers. Businesses across Florida are working to implement this amendment in the midst of a pandemic, and state government should lead by example,” he said Friday.
But wage increases elsewhere could affect the state elsewhere.
Section 9 of the Senate budget directs all state agencies to comb through state contracts and identify any cost increases related to minimum wage bump.
The reports must include a contract-by-contract list detailing what services are being provided, how many people are working on the contract overall, and how many of those workers would get a raise under the amendment this year and when any of the subsequent $1 bumps takes effect.
The bottom line of the reports must “include the estimated increased annual costs, provided incrementally and cumulatively, to implement the required minimum wage increases through calendar year 2026.”
If included in the final budget, the reports would be due to the House Speaker, Senate President and Governor by Dec. 1, 2021.
