Brad Shannon:
The Politics Blog

Brad Shannon maintains this blog. He is political editor at The Olympian and can be reached at 360-753-1688 or bshannon@theolympian.com.

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Bill would end yearly increases in the state's minimum wage

• Published January 21, 2009

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State Sen. Linda Evans Parlette of Wenatchee is proposing to freeze in the state’s minimum wage, which at $8.55 is the nation’s highest.

The veteran Republican made the proposal this week, introducing Senate Bill 5362 and saying it would help businesses keep workers on the payroll. She said businesses in rural areas have a harder time paying the wage, and she wants to get rid of the annual automatic increase tied to the Consumer Price Index.

The bill was sent to the Senate commerce committee. It isn't likely to get far in a Democrat-controlled Legislature, whose members have been strong defenders of the wage. State voters enacted yearly increases in the wage tied to inflation in 1993 via Initiative 688, which labor financed.

Just a few months ago Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi saw his campaign lose momentum after he said he was open to lowering the minimum wage for those workers in training. Gov. Chris Gregoire's campaign and other Democrats pounced on Rossi's comments, suggesting the wage was too low for a person to live on.

Parlette anticipated that criticism of the bill in a news release. She said federal Census data show "less than 1 percent of workers over the age of 25 are earning the minimum wage. These workers tend to be young, single adults, teenagers living at home or individuals providing their households with a second income."

Here are excerpts from Parlette's press release:

"We all support paying people good and fair wages, but with our economy in such dire shape we’ve literally reached the point where these wage hikes are hurting the people they were designed to help," said Parlette. "Many small businesses are hanging by a thread and these automatic wage increases, which must be adhered to whether or not businesses can afford it, are threatening their viability. Employers are being forced to cut back work hours, forego hiring people, or worse yet lay people off or even shut their doors and eliminate every job in the company. This means more people out of work, which hurts those who need these jobs the most." … In 1999, the year after I-688 passed, the state minimum wage was $5.70 an hour. Today, at $8.55, Washington’s minimum wage is a full $2 more than the $6.55 federal minimum wage (a rate that applies in states that don’t set their own rate). Prior to 1998, the Legislature was in control of Washington’s minimum wage rate.