Measure Would Increase Minimum Wage to $8.50/hr;
Requires Annual Adjustments
(TRENTON) – Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex), Deputy Speaker
John S. Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), Majority Conference Leader Gordon M. Johnson
(D-Bergen) and Assembly Budget Committee Chair Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson) on
Wednesday issued a multimedia package on the final legislative approval of their
bill to increase New Jersey's hourly minimum wage to $8.50 and require the rate
to then be adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index.
The multimedia package consists of a video of the sponsors
discussing the benefits of their legislation and the need to increase the
state’s minimum wage and audio and a transcript of same.
The video can be accessed directly via our website – www.assemblydems.com – or by pasting the
following link into a Web browser: https://vimeo.com/54967398 The audio file is available upon request.
The Assembly initially voted to approve the bill in May. The
Senate approved it on Thursday. The Assembly then had to reconsider it because
of amendments that moved the effective date to March 1, 2013 and the start of
the CPI indexing to Jan. 1, 2014. The Assembly gave final legislative approval
to the measure by a vote of 44-33-1. It now heads to the
governor.
The bill is sponsored by Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver
(D-Essex/Passaic), Assemblywoman L. Grace Spencer (D-Essex), Majority Leader Lou
Greenwald (D-Camden), Speaker Pro Tem Jerry Green (D-Union/Middlesex/Somerset),
Majority Conference Leader Gordon Johnson (D-Bergen), Budget Chairman Vincent
Prieto (D-Hudson/Bergen) and Deputy Speaker John Wisniewski
(D-Middlesex).
Speaker Oliver, during the Assembly reorganization ceremony in
January, announced increasing the minimum wage – which is currently $7.25 per
hour – would be a Democratic priority this legislative session.
The bill (A-2162) specifically increases New Jersey's hourly
minimum wage rate to $8.50 on and then requires it be adjusted annually based on
any increase in the Consumer Price Index, with the adjustment taking effect on
July 1 of each year.
A transcript of comments by Assembly Democratic leadership is
appended below:
Assembly
Deputy Speaker John S. Wisniewski (D-Middlesex):
“The minimum wage is the legal minimum that an employer can
pay anybody in the State of New Jersey. The current minimum wage, at $7.25 an
hour, puts a family at below the poverty rate.”
Assembly
Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver (D-Essex):
“Minimum wage earners bring home approximately $15,000 a
year. That translates into about $290 a week.
“You cannot afford housing, food, transportation, medicine;
the things you need just to have a modicum of a quality of life on minimum
wage. And we’ve not elevated the minimum wage in New Jersey since 2005. We all
know that the cost of living has gone up, and I think it is imperative – morally
and ethically – for the state legislature to take action to elevate the minimum
wage.”
Majority
Conference Chair Gordon M. Johnson (D-Bergen):
“This bill raises the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to
$8.50 an hour and also ties the minimum wage to the CPI – the Consumer Price
Index.
“Now, what does that do for a person who’s in that income
bracket? It makes their life just a little better, because now they will have
more money to take care of their family to take care of their expenses. But
also, the impact of this is that this money goes right back into the
economy.”
Assembly
Budget Committee Chair Vincent Prieto (D-Hudson):
“It’s so important, because the working poor of the State of
New Jersey, a lot of them work for minimum wage and a lot of them supplement
their income with minimum wage. And we think that an increase, it’s the right
thing to do. We need to help out the most vulnerable in the State of New
Jersey.”
Wisniewski:
“There are families that need this money. There are families
that are working hard, playing by the rules, but struggling to get ahead. And
it’s our obligation as a legislature; it’s our obligation as a state to create
the rules that allow these families to earn just a little bit
more.”
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