Minor league pay limitation, credit card gun code ban bills clear Senate panel

Image via AP.

Major League Baseball teams would be able to continue paying their minor league players in Florida below minimum wage, and credit card companies would be banned from identifying gun and ammunition purchases under two bills that passed through the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee.

Sen. Jonathan Martin, a Fort Myers Republican, is sponsoring SB 892, which seeks to ensure that MLB and its affiliates continue to be exempted from state and federal minimum wage laws.

When the federal Fair Labor Standards Act was renewed in 2018, Congress gave MLB a carve-out, including of federal minimum wage laws. But Florida voters in 2020 approved a state constitutional amendment to increase the minimum wage to $10 and then increase it by $1 each year until it reaches $15 per hour in 2026. Currently, the Florida minimum wage is $11 and will increase to $12 on Sept. 30. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25.

Martin said the players are aspiring to get the call-up to the MLB and aren’t as concerned about their wages.

“Those ball players are not there to earn minimum wage they’re there to interview for a job,” Martin said. “They weren’t clocking in or clocking out they were there to make themselves better … even though they weren’t making minimum wage not a single person there would give that up to make minimum wage.”

There are 15 MLB teams who hold Spring Training in Florida and 12 minor league teams affiliated with MLB teams that play during the regular season, with about 500 players, according to a staff analysis of the bill.

The bill passed on an 8-2 vote, with Sen. Linda Stewart of Orlando the only Democrat to join Republicans in favor.

Sen. Victor Torres, a St. Cloud Democrat, questioned how players, who are paid less than minimum wage over the course of the year, will cope with increased cost of living as inflation bloats rent and food prices if their pay remains flat.

“Do you think … that this bill will affect those minor league ball players who are just barely making it with what they’re earning?” Torres asked Martin. “Do you think this is fair for them?”

Martin noted that some players get millions of dollars in signing bonuses and have other expenses taken care of during the season. He noted he worked as a clubhouse attendant for the Boston Red Sox during Spring Training 23 years ago, making just above minimum wage and claimed none of the players would have traded places with him.

The panel also approved a bill, SB 214, championed by Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson to ban credit card companies from using a specific code to identify fire arms and ammunition purchases.

“It’s invading consumer privacy and rights and I just don’t think we need to go down that road,” said Sen. Danny Burgess, a Tampa Republican and sponsor of the bill.

The measure passed on a 7-2 vote.