Legislature weighs minimum wage

Monday, Feb. 21, 2005 | 9:20 a.m.

SUN CAPITAL BUREAU

CARSON CITY -- Thirteen states have minimum wages higher than required by the federal government and a bill in the Assembly would make Nevada the 14th state.

AB87 was introduced last week and would require those businesses that don't provide health insurance benefits to their workers to pay a minimum wage of $6.15 per hour, or $1 higher than the federal government requires.

And there would be yearly increases to mirror the cost of living but the raise would not be more than 3 percent.

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, the chief sponsor of the bill, said Friday "The public wholly supports this," pointing to the initiative petition on the ballot to raise the minimum wage by $1.

The initiative petition, championed by Nevada labor unions, in the las election won approval of 68 percent of the voters and will be on the ballot in 2006 for final approval.

Democrats in the Legislature had announced they would sponsor a bill boosting the minimum wage.

Approval of AB87 would allow the increased wage to be in place by this July.

The bill says that workers now earning $5.15 an hour will see $2,000 more in gross wages if the law is passed. "That's enough to make a big difference in the lives of low-income workers to move many families out of poverty," said AB87.

Neighboring California has a minimum wage of $6.75, according to research by the Legislature. And Oregon pegs the wage at $7.25 an hour, second-highest to Washington at $7.35 an hour.

Six out of the 10 people who earn minimum wage in Nevada are women. And 25 percent of all minimum wage earners are single mothers, according to the bill.

Giunchigliani said she sponsored a bill two years ago to raise the minimum wage by $1. It didn't make it. But she said a part of the bill showed up in the tax bill giving businesses a tax deduction if they supply health insurance to their workers.

The bill says that employers, to be exempt from the increased minimum wage, must make available health insurance that does not require the worker to pay more than 10 percent of wages to get the coverage.

The measure bars an employer from taking disciplinary action against a worker who files suit to force the business to comply with the proposed minimum wage of $6.15. The employee, if he or she won a suit against a business, would be able to also collect for attorney costs and fees, under the new bill.

There would be an exemption to paying the minimum wage if a person under 18 years old were employed by a nonprofit organization for after-school or summer employment or as a trainee for up to 90 days.

The current minimum wage set by the state Labor Commissioner for those under 18 years old is $4.38 per hour.