Olympia council to discuss minimum wage, worker safety after voters rejected $20
Assistant City Manager Stacey Ray will brief the City Council on Tuesday evening on a proposed timeline to address affordability and worker protections in Olympia, after a voter-led initiative failed last November.
According to previous reporting from The Olympian, Proposition 1, the initiative to raise Olympia’s minimum wage to $20 and adopt a Workers’ Bill of Rights, failed with 44% of the votes.
The current minimum wage in the state of Washington is $17.13 an hour, according to the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries. Olympia currently follows the statewide rate.
According to council documents for the July 14 meeting, the city’s Finance Committee began discussing how to address minimum wage, predictive scheduling and workplace safety in 2024. Later that year, the City Council directed staff to conduct research on the issue in 2025.
That work was then halted when a citizen-led initiative to adopt worker protections and a $20 minimum wage gained enough signatures to be placed on the Nov. 4 ballot. The initiative was presented to the City Council on July 22, 2025, which voted down outright adopting worker protections and a $20 minimum wage, 4-3. Instead, it voted unanimously to place the initiative on the ballot and leave it up to voters.
Mayor Dontae Payne and council members Dani Madrone, Kelly Green and Yến Huỳnh endorsed the “No” campaign, according to previous reporting from The Olympian. At the time, Payne said the hope is that small businesses and nonprofits and their workers can come together in the future to craft an ordinance that works for everyone.
He said something should be crafted that’s specifically tailored to Olympia and not influenced by those outside the city.
After the measure failed in November, the City Council directed staff to continue with its research and public engagement efforts, according to meeting documents.
If adopted by the City Council, work would be completed in three phases, according to meeting documents. Staff would take from July to September to conduct research and data collection, stakeholder sessions and council study sessions. Those findings would be reviewed, and the project scope would be refined this fall.
The second phase, from October through December, would involve more research and stakeholder listening sessions. The final phase would be from January to March 2027, when the council could potentially make a decision.
When asked if this process will include the possibility of a higher minimum wage in Olympia through a vote of the council, Ray told The Olympian on July 13 that it’s too early in the process to know exactly what will come from the process and what may ultimately be brought to the council for consideration.
“The intent of the update for council tomorrow night is to provide a high level overview of the proposed process for approaching this work effort and receive feedback from the council on that proposed process,” Ray said.
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