The Journal Record: A public vote on the minimum wage?

Image
Body

If Oklahomans want a higher minimum wage, they will have to place the issue before voters, not the Legislature.

In Arkansas and Missouri, two neighboring red states where state lawmakers fought strongly against legislation to raise the minimum wage, higher minimum wages were ultimately approved overwhelmingly through a vote of the people at the ballot box.

Lawmakers in those states failed to recognize that the debate over raising the minimum wage is no longer a partisan issue. The 2018 votes in Arkansas and Missouri showed Democrats and Republicans think it’s time to raise the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, which hasn’t been raised in a decade.

In Oklahoma, where the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, state Sen. George Young, D-Oklahoma City, has once again introduced legislation that would raise the minimum wage, this time to $10.50 an hour, with the goal of getting to $15 through incremental increases.

Every effort to raise the state’s minimum wage has been soundly defeated by the Republican majority in the Legislature. We think the chances of Young’s proposal inching forward in the Senate or House are next to nil. The issue is too controversial and the political will among most lawmakers to move the issue forward is nonexistent, even though 31 states have a minimum wage exceeding $7.25 an hour.

The arguments for and against raising the minimum wage haven’t changed. Republicans, business leaders and some economists will contend it will surely lead to job losses and reduced investment in Oklahoma. Democrats say narrowing the gap between those at the bottom of the pay scale and those in the middle could pull more people out of poverty, increase consumer spending and generate more tax revenue for local, state and federal government.

According to The New York Times, the effective U.S. minimum wage has risen to $12 an hour, as dozens of states and municipalities have enacted their own minimum rates. And that number is expected to rise, with two dozen states and four dozen municipalities scheduled to raise minimum wages further in 2020.

While the debate over the minimum wage employers should be paying their rank-and-file workers hasn’t changed, it appears public opinion has shifted, acknowledging the reduced spending power of a $7.25 hourly wage and the higher cost of health care and housing for the working poor.

Many never expected Oklahomans would approve the use of medical marijuana, as they did in June 2018. The issue transcended party lines, age, race and social classes in Oklahoma. Is the state’s minimum wage another transcending issue of importance for Oklahomans?