SB 2016-011: Pay Workers a Fair Wage Act (Failed)

[tmthforu94]

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Sponsor: Blair

72 hours for debate. I invite the sponsor to speak on the bill.

[Classic Conservative]

I can't support this bill, it will impact the rural communities and small businesses of Atlasia, to much. This is better the regions to decide.

[Prince of Salem]

I can't support this bill, it will impact the rural communities and small businesses of Atlasia, to much. This is better the regions to decide.

This. I still remember this one time a federal minimum wage was enacted and what happened later.

It's frustrating when regional initiative gets stuck like this.

[This account no longer in use.]

Although this is more of a regional issue, I have no major problems with this bill, as it raises the minimum wage, but doesn't go full "FightFor15".

[Kingpoleon]

May I suggest just keeping it at eleven dollars and encouraging regions to raise it from there? The extra $1.50 either shouldn't be added or this should be spread out over a longer period of time.

Also, maybe a tipped minimum wage at, say, a dollar or two below the normal would make more sense.

[Blair]

I devised this bill, as someone who knows that a 15 minimum would be simply too high to uniformly enforce, and would not receive the support from members across both houses.

However I'm extremely disappointed to see the old, and defective arguments trotted out without any evidence at all to support them- we're suppose to be a debating chamber. You can't just turn up and say 'this will destroy jobs' without any sufficient evidence.

Now I'd be happy to support some sort of tax credit/arrangement to help small business, but the bigness irony in my mind is that we hear the screams about small business- I work for a small business in RL and get paid £1 over the minimum wage to wash pots, and clean up- yet the big multinational chains like Tesco are the ones who pay the minimum wage to virtually all there workers

Now lets look what small businesses say....

60% of businesses support raising it]http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/8984-increased-minimum-wage.html] 60% of businesses support raising it

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Now you say we should leave this to the regions- I was elected by the good people of the Northeast on the platform of raising the raising the minimum wage so that the hard working people- the people who wash the plates, sweep the streets, support themselves through school and work day in day out have a chance to get on in life.

This landmark academic paper from 1995, along with countless other economics reports highlight the getting rid of the minimum wage doesn't cost jobs, doesn't hike prices and doesn't cause business to close down..

http://davidcard.berkeley.edu/papers/njmin-aer.pdf

[tmthforu94]

I have to respectfully disagree with your assertion that raising the minimum wage doesn't negatively affect employment numbers. Several studies more recent than 1995 have shown that raising the minimum wage leads to a reduction in employment from less-educated workers and only a fraction of those who would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage are low-income.

The South Region has a lot of diverse opinions on this issue, but the opinion I've been hearing the most is that this is an issue that should be best left to the regions to determine, and that is the position I stand with. In terms of combatting poverty at a federal level, I believe there are better ways to combat that. As budget talks are starting to begin, the plan for the federal income tax I will be proposing will cut the income tax to 0% for individuals making under $30,000. By cutting taxes we are creating more opportunities for Atlasians to invest in our economy and improve ways of life.

[Blair]

What's the point in having a Senate then? It's beyond belief that this is an issue that's thrown to the regions, but we spend the first two weeks in this chamber debating currency

[tmthforu94]

What's the point in having a Senate then? It's beyond belief that this is an issue that's thrown to the regions, but we spend the first two weeks in this chamber debating currency

Well the biggest three areas, in my opinion, are the budget, foreign policy and game reform (including constitutional amendments). Other than that, especially with the reset in place, I'd like to empower the regions as much as possible to be able to determine their own policies, rather than mandate it from the top. In terms of deciding what should be federal and what should be regional, I try to look at how things are currently being done in America and how it is working before deciding where I think it should best be dealt.

[Blair]

Again, I've deeply worried my the levels of debate in the Senate. We've only heard from 50% of Senators -on an issue that will affect millions of Atlasians who are struggling paycheck to paycheck.

Now the evidence about minimum wage costing jobs- it's been disproved many times.

Look at what economists from Goldman Sachs and the National Employment Law Centre say

There's no evidence that the minimum wage increases unemployment

[tmthforu94]

Putting something in larger font doesn't make it more factual. At best, reports have been conflicting, with the CBO stating that increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 would almost certainly lose jobs, ranging up to 1 million.

Based on the research I've done, I would be open to raising it to $9 and tie that to inflation, but would want to leave anything above that for the regions to decide. I would also be interested in hearing more from the sponsor on clause two of this bill. But one thing I can agree with Blair on is the disappointing lack of activity in this thread. The minimum wage is an issue anyone who is familiar with politics should have an opinion on, and the lack of input from others is extremely disturbing. If you can't take the time to adequately debate bills and are only showing up to vote, you are welcome to resign and can be replaced with someone who wants to be here.

[Goldwater]

Honestly, I don't know what to add to the debate here. I don't support increasing the minimum wage, I doubt that my mind will be changed on that, and I doubt that anything I could say on the subject would change the minds of anybody else.

[Blair]

I offer this amendment

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[tmthforu94]

Can you clarify what this is:

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[Blair]

Can you clarify what this is:

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I actually didn't know that it existed, until I was doing some reading of Bernie's plank about the minimum wage. The culture may be different in the US- I've been told when I go on holiday there that you always tip (taxis, porters, waiters etc) whilst in the UK the assumption is that you tip if you, and only if you get good service. The actual law itself is explained here.

https://www.dol.gov/whd/state/tipped.htm

The purpose of scrapping it is that it seems extremely unfair to have such a difference between tipped and non-tipped workers- as someone who works in a Kitchen I know how difficult the tipping system can be ( sometimes you finish early so don't have time to pick them up, some days have more tips than others) if anything the busier days get less tipped paid

[tmthforu94]

I actually completely agree, though I'm not sure I understand how you worded the clause. Would this work?

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[Blair]

I actually completely agree, though I'm not sure I understand how you worded the clause. Would this work?

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Yeah, I looked back at the bill and saw that I worded it rather weirdly and sloppily

[tmthforu94]

Alright, 24 hours for objections on Senator Blair's amendment. Since it appears Senator Blair considers my amendment as friendly, we'll also leave 24 hours for that.

[tmthforu94]

Both amendments have been adopted.

[tmthforu94]

I'll offer the following amendment:

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The reason for the date change is that at this point, by the time we potentially had a presidential signature on this, we'll only be giving businesses a couple months to prepare for this increases. I originally considered January 2018, but I think next July gives them the necessary time needed to prepare for these wage increases.


24 hours for objections.

[Blair]

I agree with pushing the date back- but I'd still like to see a $10.10 minimum wage- even if it's by 2019 or 2020

[Kingpoleon]

How about just a $10.00 minimum wage by July 1, 2018? That gives eighteen months at nine dollars.

[tmthforu94]

I agree with pushing the date back- but I'd still like to see a $10.10 minimum wage- even if it's by 2019 or 2020

I would prefer leaving the minimum wage at $9.00 and allowing regions the opportunity to go beyond that. I will interpret your post as an objection to the amendment, so we will now proceed to a vote on the following amendment:

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Aye

[This account no longer in use.]

Aye

[Goldwater]

AYE