Minimum wage bill makes movement in the Senate

A bill originally introduced by Del. Jeion Ward, D-Hampton, is making progress in the Senate after passing the House 51-49.

The bill, HB 1, would bring the current Virginia minimum wage from $12 an hour to $13.50 an hour beginning Jan.1, 2025, and then rise to $15.00 an hour beginning a year later in 2026.

“I believe that we can all look at whatever report and quote whatever report we want to prove our point, and I understand totally,” Ward said in a regular session meeting Feb. 2. “But what I also understand is that this body has been legislating for some 400 years. The few little years that we are here, we want to be able to say that ‘I had an impact on the least of those.”

Across the country, 18 states have a minimum wage greater than Virginia – $12. California’s minimum is $16 and $17 is the minimum in Washington, D.C.

“I understand that [HB 1] may hurt some people, but the large majority of the people who have the increase in their wages are the people who are able to pay a babysitter,” Ward continued, urging those to vote in favor of the bill. “They are the people who are going to be able to pay rent on time. They won’t be put out of their housing.”

After passing the House, HB 1 was referred to the Senate’s Committee on Commerce and Labor on Feb. 5. On Feb. 19, the bill was then reported from the Committee on Commerce and Labor after passing 9-5 and then referred to the Finance and Appropriations Committee.

“I’m proud of the kitchen table issues that we’ve been able to address, mainly around making sure that we had a baseline minimum wage that reflected our economy, the prosperity that we have here  in Virginia and America…,” Del. Don Scott, D-Portsmouth said in an interview with 13News Now back in November.

Del. Rob Bloxom, Jr., R-Accomack, voted against the bill and spoke against it before its third reading.

“I do feel compelled to tell another side of the story,” Bloxom, Jr. said in the regular session Feb. 2. “Outside of the Golden Crescent, the part of Virginia that we might call a horseshoe of decline, a minimum wage increase is going to be difficult, and for small business owners like myself to make some very difficult decisions.”

Bloxom said the proposed minimum wage increase would affect areas in Virginia outside the Golden Crescent and that the “ripple effect that the physical impact of [HB 1] won’t be felt for years.”

“In my small business, I have 20 families that depend on me and I depend on them,” Bloxom said. “Nowhere in this bill do I get credit for paying health insurance. Nowhere in this bill do I get credit for establishing health savings accounts or life insurance or paying for uniforms. This bill assumes that I treat them like a commodity. When you increase the beginner employee’s pay, everyone must be adjusted. I have employees that have worked for me for decades and wage compression is real.”