NE1: Pastures of Plenty Act

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

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 The Northeast Minimum Age Act of 2012 is hereby repealed.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.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

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.

[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"?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

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.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

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.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

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

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

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?

[Goldwater]

Does this amendment address your concern?

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[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

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?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

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.

[Goldwater]

Yeah, I can support that change in text.

[bore]

I support this wholeheartedly.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

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.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

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.

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[Goldwater]

ABSTAIN

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Aye.

Wow. I wasn't the first voter.

I'm ashamed.

[Napoleon]

Wow. I wasn't the first voter.

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

[bore]

Aye

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

With two ayes and one nay, the bill passes.

I'm ashamed, Simfan and Belgy. If either of you misses one more vote, you'll be expelled. For too long, we've had an active majority, and they're great. Bore, Goldwater, me, I approve of you guys. Simfan, Belgy, you're just dragging us down.