Maryland Reporter, State Roundup, February 11, 2019

WAGE HIKE DEBATED: Maryland lawmakers heard hours of conflicting testimony Friday on whether to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. ...

• Businesses are not monolithic in their views on the proposal and some supporters say opponents are “voices of fear.” Ned Atwater, owner of six restaurants, called for passage of the increases and said it would drive down turnover and training costs for employers, Bryan Sears writes in the Daily Record. The bill proposes increasing the state’s minimum wage to $11 on July 1. The...

By Brenden Moore
State Journal-Register, Feb 10, 2019 

After years of working various jobs in retail and food service, Springfield resident Laquesha Russell last year found her calling as a home health aide for Help at Home. ... Russell, along with 1.4 million low-wage workers in Illinois — or about 23 percent of the state’s workforce — could be in line for a raise in the coming years as state lawmakers debate raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. ...

Amazon set its starting rate for U.S. workers at $15 per hour last year. In a tweet congratulating...

By Kate Ryan
WTOP FM, February 8, 2019

WASHINGTON — Efforts to get a $15 an hour minimum wage in Maryland by 2024 went into high gear Friday as members of a House panel heard from dozens of people on both sides of the issue. ...

The committee also heard from business owners who support the bill. Alissa Barron-Menza, vice president at Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, said her group represents businesses that support the “Fight for Fifteen.”

Barron-Menza said small businesses are already losing out to big-box stores who pay above the state minimum...

By Holden Wilen
Baltimore Business Journal, Feb 8, 2019

... The marquee proposal of this year's legislative session in Annapolis took center stage Friday as 174 advocates, business owners, trade associations and other groups testified for and against a bill to raise Maryland's minimum wage. The Economic Matters Committee's hearing room reached capacity and many others filled the hallway outside to pitch lawmakers on whether or the minimum wage should be raised.

House Bill 166 would raise the statewide minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2023 and then tie it to the Consumer Price Index. ...Maryland last passed...

By Ally Schweitzer
WAMU 88.5, Feb 8, 2019

With battles over the minimum wage temporarily on hold in D.C. and Virginia, the epicenter of the regional fight has shifted to Annapolis, Maryland. ...

Some business owners have also expressed support for the proposal, saying higher wages often benefit employers in the long run.

“Paying fair wages helps us attract and retain good employees, increase sales, expand our business and hire more people,” hardware store owner Gina Schaefer said in a statement from Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a group that favors raising the...

By Bryan P. Sears
Daily Record, Feb 8, 2019

ANNAPOLIS — A fight to increase Maryland’s minimum wage to $15 per hour is pitting businesses across the state against each other, including some well-known restaurants.

Advocates of the increase say it will provide a livable wage to workers at the low rungs of the economic ladder who are struggling to make a living in one of the most expensive states in the nation. And while a number of business owners say the increase will reduce training costs, increase worker satisfaction and move them off social...

By Roy Maurer
SHRM HR News, February 5, 2019

Congressional Democrats' recently announced plan to raise the federal minimum wage has reset the stage for an enduring argument: Do minimum-wage increases lead to more prosperity or fewer jobs for low-wage earners? Democrats in the House and Senate introduced legislation Jan. 16 that would gradually increase the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour over the next five years. ...

Advocates: Higher Wages Can Be Good for Business

... A minimum-wage increase would boost the economy, said Holly Sklar, the CEO of Business for a Fair...

New Law Will Boost Wages for Over One Million New Jersey Workers

By Frank L. Cahill
Parsippany Focus, Feb 4, 2019

TRENTON — Governor Phil Murphy signed legislation that will raise New Jersey’s minimum wage to $15.00 per hour by 2024. ...

Parsippany-Troy Hills Mayor Michael Soriano said “More money in employees pockets means more money is being spent in Parsippany restaurants and retails stores. It’s going to boost our local economy, and it’s going to help New Jersey continue to develop a thriving small business culture.” ...

“New Jersey is taking a big step forward in raising the minimum wage for most workers to $15.00 by 2024. It would be better, however, if that timetable applied to all businesses instead of putting some on a slower path,” said Holly Sklar, CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. “A lagging minimum wage will hurt small businesses, not help them....

By Braden Campbell
Law360, Jan 15, 2019

Congressional Democrats are planning to introduce legislation Wednesday that would gradually lift the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2024, setting the stage for what could be a protracted battle over where the national wage floor should be. ...

Although groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business have previously opposed a $15 minimum wage, others in the business community are in favor. Alissa Barron-Menza, vice president at Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a business coalition that backs the plan, argued it would benefit small-business owners by boosting their local economies. ...

By Megan Cerullo
CBS News MoneyWatch, Jan 16, 2019

The legal minimum wage for New York City employers with 11 or more workers rose more than 15 percent on Dec. 31, 2018, to $15 per hour from $13, giving fast-food, retail and other employees a bump in pay. ...

Marc Sherry, co-owner of the 1860s-era Old Homestead Steakhouse in Manhattan, said he never considered reducing his staff in response to the wage hike. "The increase in the minimum wage is in effect, but it was never in our business plan to lay off staff because...

By Katie Arcieri and Holden Wilen
Washington Business Journal, Jan 16, 2019

Read more

By Holden Wilen
Baltimore Business Journal, Jan 15, 2019

The fight to raise Maryland's minimum wage to $15 began in earnest Monday with a coalition of lawmakers, advocates and business owners starting their push to pass a bill during the General Assembly's current legislative session. ...

By Pamela Wood
The Baltimore Sun, Jan 14, 2019

Advocates and lawmakers began their push Monday to gradually raise Maryland’s minimum wage to $15 by 2023, a starting point for negotiations on what’s expected to be one of the hottest topics of this year’s General Assembly session.

The state’s minimum wage is currently $10.10 per hour. ...

The advocates for increasing the minimum wage say there are business owners who support the increase. At Monday’s news conference, Brian England, owner of BA Auto Care in Columbia, spoke about how paying his workers more than minimum wage has inspired...

By Danielle E. Gaines
Maryland Matters, Jan 14, 2019

Lawmakers, advocates ― and even some small business owners ― gathered in Annapolis on Monday evening, vowing to push for a $15 minimum wage bill. ...

Alissa Barron-Menza, vice president of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, argued that a higher minimum wage could lead to less employee turnover and greater worker ― and, in return, customer ― satisfaction at small businesses.

“A minimum wage of $10.10 leaves many working Maryalnders without sufficient income to meet their basic needs and that’s bad for Maryland businesses. Workers...

By Christian M. Wade
Haverhill Gazette, Jan 10, 2019

...  Wages are rising for hundreds of thousands of workers in Massachusetts in the new year, with the first of five annual increases bumping up the state's minimum wage to $12 per hour. ... This year's increase is the first of several annual hikes that will bring the state's minimum wage up to $15 per hour by 2023. ...

some business groups say hiking the minimum wage is not only the right thing to do, but that it also makes economic sense.

"It leads to more spending...