NE1: Pastures of Plenty Act

[IDS Legislator Alfred F. Jones]

Pastures of Plenty Act

1. The Northeast Minimum Age Act of 2012 is hereby repealed.
2. The Northeast minimum wage shall be set at $15.00 per hour on October 1st, 2012.
3. The Northeast minimum wage shall be indexed to inflation.
4. Adjustments to the minimum wage shall be made quarterly.
5. For the purposes of this act, tip income shall not be counted as a part of an employee's wage.

Sponsor: Nix

Nixy, you have 24 hours before I may or may not kill the bill, depending on our non-existant CJO's opinion.

But I'll probably kill it anyway.

And I have a question: What is the current minimum wage? And is that "Minimum Age Act" thing a typo? I really don't want 10-year-olds working in our factories.

[Governor Scott]

I support this bill, however, I think there should be an exemption made for small businesses that cannot afford to pay a wage this high.

[Northeast Representative Goldwater]

I support this bill, however, I think there should be an exemption made for small businesses that cannot afford to pay a wage this high.

At what point does a business stop being a "small business"?

[Governor Scott]

I support this bill, however, I think there should be an exemption made for small businesses that cannot afford to pay a wage this high.

At what point does a business stop being a "small business"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_business#Characteristics_of_small_businesses

[Simfan34]

There is no reason to believe the market can support such a high wage.

[Insula Dei]

Am I still the CJO? If I am I'm eager to hear the arguments pro and contra before giving an advice.

If I'm not, then I'd still be interested in people's opinion on the legality of this.

[Governor Scott]

Am I still the CJO? If I am I'm eager to hear the arguments pro and contra before giving an advice.

If I'm not, then I'd still be interested in people's opinion on the legality of this.

Because you are now an Assembly Representative, you are no longer a CJO.  I don't see anything in the bill that makes it unlawful to pass.

[Ѕenator Αverroës]

This bill has two goals. First, it increases our region's minimum wage to a level at which a single person earning that wage can meet all of his or her basic needs without public assistance. Second, it ties the minimum wage to inflation and requires that it be adjusted four times per year. I suspect that the more conservative members of this body will object to the first goal, but I hope that I can convince everyone that the second goal is both desirable and necessary.

The Northeast Minimum Wage Act of 2012 sets the minimum wage $1.50 higher than the federal minimum wage. Currently, the minimum wage for the Northeast Region stands at $13.50 per hour. $15.00 may sound high compared to the real-life minimum wage, but federal law limits the Atlasian workweek to 32 hours. A person earning the minimum wage and working full-time in Atlasia earns 20% less than he or she would if the standard Atlasian workweek were 40 hours long.

According to the MIT living wage calculator, a single adult living in New York State requires an annual income of at least $23,929 before taxes to support himself or herself. An adult earning our current minimum wage and working full-time year round would earn only $21,600. Under my proposal, an adult who works full-time fifty weeks per year would earn $24,000.

It is true that the living wage calculation is lower for some other states; the lowest in our region is Pennsylvania's (which rounds down to $18,000 per year). But this calculation assumes that a person has no dependents; furthermore, I find it unreasonable to expect anyone to work at a wage that provides them with nothing extra for savings, leisure, or personal investments.

Second, we need to provide our workers with certainty and security; it make no sense to set the minimum wage in nominal terms. Steady inflation is predictable economic reality. The minimum wage needs to be indexed to inflation so that the Assembly isn't forced to continue adjusting it on an ad hoc basis.

Is that "Minimum Age Act" thing a typo? I really don't want 10-year-olds working in our factories.

Yes. For the sake of procedure, I'll introduce an amendment removing the error:

"1. The Northeast Minimum Age Wage Act of 2012 is hereby repealed."

Am I still the CJO? If I am I'm eager to hear the arguments pro and contra before giving an advice.

You vacated the position when you swore in as a Representative. However, I would appreciate whatever advice you can provide as a Representative with a legal background. While no longer binding, it may still be valuable.

There is no reason to believe the market can support such a high wage.

What do you mean by that?

[IDS Legislator Alfred F. Jones]

As with all bills supporting the Northeast's middle class, I wholeheartedly support this bill.

[Governor Scott]

I support this bill, however, I think there should be an exemption made for small businesses that cannot afford to pay a wage this high.

Could someone address this concern, please?

[Northeast Representative Goldwater]

Does this amendment address your concern?

Pastures of Plenty Act

1. The Northeast Minimum Age Act of 2012 is hereby repealed.
2. The Northeast minimum wage shall be set at $15.00 per hour on October 1st, 2012.
3. The Northeast minimum wage shall be indexed to inflation.
4. Adjustments to the minimum wage shall be made quarterly.
5. For the purposes of this act, tip income shall not be counted as a part of an employee's wage.
6. Any manufacturing business with fewer than 500 employes or non manufacturing business earning less than than $7 million in annual receipts is exempt from this act.

[Governor Scott]

Those standards are a tad bit high, IMO, but two-thirds of low wage workers work for large corporations, so it would probably still help a lot of people.  What do the Governor and other Representatives think of Goldwater's amendment?

[IDS Legislator Alfred F. Jones]

I'm not a lawyer, but would "exempt from this act" mean that they'd go back to the Minimum Wage Act's settings? Or, since the NMWA would be repealed, would their wages drop down to the federal minimum? From what I understand, that amendment would actually decrease small-business workers' wages. Here's my argument in chart form.

Small businesses are exempt from the act -> Wages in the act don't apply to them -> Wages in the previous legislation apply to them -> Wages in the NMWA apply to them -> NMWA is repealed -> Federal wages apply to them -> Their wages are decreased.

Currently, workers earn $13.50 an hour, as stated by Nix. Under the original act, they'd earn $15 an hour, adjusted for inflation. Under the amendment, if I am correct, small-business workers would only earn $11.00 an hour. According to my calculations, that's over $6,000 less per year.

Can someone please address these concerns?

Unless someone can explain to me that Goldwater's amendment does not significantly harm Northeastern workers, I cannot support it.

[Ѕenator Αverroës]

Goldwater: I am willing to accept your amendment, but only if it is modified so that it employees of exempt businesses continue to earn at least the current minimum wage ($13.50/hour).

Pastures of Plenty Act

1. The Northeast Minimum wage Act of 2012 is hereby repealed.
2. The Northeast minimum wage shall be set at $15.00 per hour on October 1st, 2012.
3. The Northeast minimum wage shall be indexed to inflation.
4. Adjustments to the minimum wage shall be made quarterly.
5. For the purposes of this act, tip income shall not be counted as a part of an employee's wage.
6. Manufacturing businesses with fewer than 500 employees and non-manufacturing businesses earning less than than $7 million in annual receipts shall be exempt from Section 2 of this Act.
7. The minimum wage for employees of those businesses specified in Section 6 of this act Northeast shall be $13.50.

Would you be willing to support this text?

Edited to remove the typo because - rest assured, I'm not pulling a fast one on Goldwater

[Northeast Representative Goldwater]

Yeah, I can support that change in text.

[Ѕenator Αverroës]

Great! I appreciate your contribution. I think that we've made this a better bill.

Speaker Jones, please consider the text of the bill in my previous bill an official amendment.

Belgian, Bore, can you support this? Simfan, do you have any more specific concerns?

[bore]

I support this wholeheartedly.

[IDS Legislator Alfred F. Jones]

Concerns: ASSUAGED.

Do you guys think we can have a final vote on this?

[Simfan34]

Eh, what's an extra dollar. We've smothered the market at this point. I intend to abstain.

[Insula Dei]

I'm ready to support these measures.

[IDS Legislator Alfred F. Jones]

Debate time has expired. Representatives will vote Aye, Nay, or Abstain on the final text. Voting will last for 24 hours or until all members have voted.

Pastures of Plenty Act

1. The Northeast Minimum Wage Act of 2012 is hereby repealed.
2. The Northeast minimum wage shall be set at $15.00 per hour on October 1st, 2012.
3. The Northeast minimum wage shall be indexed to inflation.
4. Adjustments to the minimum wage shall be made quarterly.
5. For the purposes of this act, tip income shall not be counted as a part of an employee's wage.
6. Manufacturing businesses with fewer than 500 employees and non-manufacturing businesses earning less than than $7 million in annual receipts shall be exempt from Section 2 of this Act.
7. The minimum wage for employees of those businesses specified in Section 6 of this act Northeast shall be $13.50.

[Northeast Representative Goldwater]

ABSTAIN

[IDS Legislator Alfred F. Jones]

Aye.

Wow. I wasn't the first voter.

I'm ashamed.

[Senator Napoleon]

Wow. I wasn't the first voter.

If you ain't first, you're last.

[bore]

Aye