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La. Local Option To Set Minimum Wage Bill Killed In Committee

Courtesy: Chuck Smith / Red River Radio News

LOCAL MINIMUM WAGE OPTION - $7.25 an hour is the current minimum wage set by the federal government, which Louisiana follows because the state doesn’t have a minimum wage of its own.  Since taking office three years ago - Governor John Bel Edwards has been urging the State Legislature to set and raise the state minimum wage, but such a move has yet to gain enough support from lawmakers.

A bill by Representative Royce Duplessis (D-New Orleans) would have stripped a 1997 law that restricts parish and municipal governments from establishing their own minimum wage.  Yesterday he explained the purpose of the bill to the House Labor Committee in Baton Rouge.

Credit Courtesy: La. House of Representatives
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Courtesy: La. House of Representatives
Rep. Royce Duplessis (D) New Orleans

“This bill lifts the restriction," Representative Duplessis told members of the House Labor committe, "only to give the authority and autonomy to local government that they can exercise the option to go above $7.25.”

Duplessis says the local bill is a direct response to the Legislature’s unwillingness to address a statewide minimum wage, but he also believes locals are best equipped to handle the issue.

"There’s no debate that the wages that we make in New Orleans don’t go the same distance that they do in New Roads or New Iberia or anywhere else that we might live,” he said.

The legislation received support from city councils in Shreveport, Alexandria and New Orleans.  The East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council did not back the effort. Supporters say raising the minimum wage would make workers more financially independent and more likely to stay in their jobs.  But business groups oppose allowing locals to set their own minimum wage for the same reasons they oppose the policy statewide. They argue an increase to the minimum wage would result in job losses.  Jim Patterson, is with the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.

Credit Courtesy: La. House of Representatives
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Courtesy: La. House of Representatives
Jim Patterson, La. Association of Business & Industry (LABI)

“The chaos that would be created particularly for employers that operate in more than one locality would be untenable," said Jim Patterson, with the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry.

The bill was rejected in committee on a party line vote of 9-6. A separate constitutional amendment that would let voters decide if a state minimum wage should be set at $9.00 an hour is still making its way through the Senate.  That bill is expected to be heard on the floor next week.

Chuck Smith brings more than 30 years' broadcast and media experience to Red River Radio. He began his career as a radio news reporter and transitioned to television journalism and newsmagazine production. Chuck studied mass communications at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia and motion picture / television production at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has also taught writing for television at York Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina and video / film production at Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport.