House approves $10.50 minimum hourly wage

On Wednesday night, the proposed statute that would raise the current minimum wage from $8 per hour to $10.50 by July 1, 2016 has gotten clearance from the House of Representatives on a 123-24. Cape Code Today said that the vote means that both legislative branches are now in favor of a significant increase in rates paid to low-income workers.

Wayland Democrat Representative Tom Conroy, who had led the proposed statute to passage, had disclosed to News Service, "I'm sure that the Senate was quite curious to see what we're doing today, and they're going to review the bill. No one should be working full-time and living in poverty, and that happens too often here in Massachusetts and this bill goes a long way towards addressing that."

The new bill, whom Conroy said that are taken advantage of too many times, also reconfigures the unemployment insurance taxes imposed on businesses, which will essentially create saving for employers, and in turn will make it easier for businesses to comply with the new state minimum hourly wage. Addressing his fellow lawmakers on the House floor, Conroy said that the ultimate core of the bill is fairness to both employers and the employees.

At the moment, the state House is currently weighing on whether to pass two proposed bills which would raise hourly wages of restaurant wait staff and other tipped employees and of linking future increased in the minimum wage to the state cost of living, Cape Cod today said. Pittsfield Democrat Representative Tricia Farley-Bouvier reportedly withdrew her proposed bill amendment in favor of a current Senate bill, which already raised tipped employees' minimum wage from $2.63 to $5.50. Boston Democrat Representative Russell Holmes, on the other hand, had withdrawn his as a Senate bill has already included his proposal.

Acton Democrat Senator Jamie Eldridge expressed his concern about the liberal bills that have been passed, Cape Code Today said. He wrote on Twitter, which read, "In past 20 years, culture on Beacon Hill has changed so that too many progressive leg's give up too easily & cede their power to leadership."

Tags

US House of Representatives, Wayland Democrat Representative Tom Conroy

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