Texas lawmakers spar over raising states minimum wage
Depending on your point of view, the minimum wage in Texas is a “misery wage” that’s too low for struggling workers to stay afloat, or it’s an efficient entry level pay rate that enables employers to hire more people and create more jobs.
Lawmakers sparred over those competing descriptions Monday during a House committee hearing over a number of bills dealing with the state’s minimum wage, currently set at the federal minimum of $7.25 a hour. Among the bills, several would increase the state’s rate to $10.10 an hour or to $15 an hour, while others would mandate statewide referendums putting the issue to Texas voters.
“What we are asking for is something for the little dogs,” state Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, told members of the House committee on Business and Industry, which held the hearing. “Even the little dogs have to eat.”
Her proposal, House bill 937, would increase the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour in stages. She and other supporters of a higher minimum cited statistics indicating the rate would be $18.42 a hour if it merely had kept pace with increases in productivity over the past 48 years.
Read more: http://www.mystatesman.com/business/texas-lawmakers-spar-over-raising-state-minimum-wage/GiJmame3EE40Hcvsge4fkK/