Minimum wage increase, tax breaks among new laws

BY BRAD SHANNON/THE OLYMPIAN | THE OLYMPIAN • Published January 01, 2007

• Links

The minimum wage is going up. Tribal police officers soon can receive certification, putting them on par with non-tribal police. And the state elections cycle is getting earlier.

Those are among the new laws that take effect on New Year's Day in Washington state.

The minimum wage is going up 30 cents to $7.93 an hour, highest of any state. Initiative 688, passed by Washington voters in 1998, increases the wage every year, based on inflation.

"Thirty cents doesn't sound like much but it adds up - especially when you live on a really small budget," said

Jeremy Alexander, a cook at King Solomon's Reef restaurant in Olympia, who earns the minimum when he takes bartending shifts during the day.

Many restaurant owners have sought to stop the yearly increase in the wage -- or let employee tips count toward the minimum.

But King Solomon's general manager Pat Stanley said he thinks his employees work hard and deserve the raise.

"Washington still has the highest minimum wage. Oregon is second," state Department of Labor and Industries spokeswoman Elaine Fischer said. Oregon's wage goes to $7.80, and only the city of San Francisco, which has an $8.50 rate, is higher, federal data show.

About 5 percent of the state's jobs -- or about 160,000 full-time and part-time positions -- are paid the minimum, Fischer said.

About 40 percent of those are in the restaurant industry.

The pay boost is one of several new laws or rules taking effect today. Other changes in the works on Jan. 1:

House Bill 2367: It lets tribal police officers earn state certification if they complete the same training that non-tribal officers do. Certification is seen as a step up in prestige. It also assures non-tribal police agencies that participate in mutual aid agreements with tribes that their officers are backed up by equally trained tribal officers.

"I think it's probably a step toward a better partnership between Indian law enforcement and local jurisdictions," Nisqually tribal administrator Richard Wells said. "Some of them actually have more extensive training than what the state provides.