• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
MENUMENU
MENUMENU
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact Us
    • FlaglerLive Board of Directors
    • Comment Policy
    • Mission Statement
    • Our Values
    • Privacy Policy
  • Live Calendar
  • Submit Obituary
  • Submit an Event
  • Support FlaglerLive
  • Advertise on FlaglerLive (386) 503-3808
  • Search Results

FlaglerLive

No Bull, no Fluff, No Smudges

MENUMENU
  • Flagler
    • Flagler County Commission
    • Beverly Beach
    • Economic Development Council
    • Flagler History
    • Mondex/Daytona North
    • The Hammock
    • Tourist Development Council
  • Palm Coast
    • Palm Coast City Council
    • Palm Coast Crime
  • Bunnell
    • Bunnell City Commission
    • Bunnell Crime
  • Flagler Beach
    • Flagler Beach City Commission
    • Flagler Beach Crime
  • Cops/Courts
    • Circuit & County Court
    • Florida Supreme Court
    • Federal Courts
    • Flagler 911
    • Fire House
    • Flagler County Sheriff
    • Flagler Jail Bookings
    • Traffic Accidents
  • Rights & Liberties
    • Fourth Amendment
    • First Amendment
    • Privacy
    • Second Amendment
    • Seventh Amendment
    • Sixth Amendment
    • Sunshine Law
    • Third Amendment
    • Religion & Beliefs
    • Human Rights
    • Immigration
    • Labor Rights
    • 14th Amendment
    • Civil Rights
  • Schools
    • Adult Education
    • Belle Terre Elementary
    • Buddy Taylor Middle
    • Bunnell Elementary
    • Charter Schools
    • Daytona State College
    • Flagler County School Board
    • Flagler Palm Coast High School
    • Higher Education
    • Imagine School
    • Indian Trails Middle
    • Matanzas High School
    • Old Kings Elementary
    • Rymfire Elementary
    • Stetson University
    • Wadsworth Elementary
    • University of Florida/Florida State
  • Economy
    • Jobs & Unemployment
    • Business & Economy
    • Development & Sprawl
    • Leisure & Tourism
    • Local Business
    • Local Media
    • Real Estate & Development
    • Taxes
  • Commentary
    • The Conversation
    • Pierre Tristam
    • Diane Roberts
    • Guest Columns
    • Byblos
    • Editor's Blog
  • Culture
    • African American Cultural Society
    • Arts in Palm Coast & Flagler
    • Books
    • City Repertory Theatre
    • Flagler Auditorium
    • Flagler Playhouse
    • Flagler Youth Orchestra
    • Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra
    • Palm Coast Arts Foundation
    • Special Events
  • Elections 2024
    • Amendments and Referendums
    • Presidential Election
    • Campaign Finance
    • City Elections
    • Congressional
    • Constitutionals
    • Courts
    • Governor
    • Polls
    • Voting Rights
  • Florida
    • Federal Politics
    • Florida History
    • Florida Legislature
    • Florida Legislature
    • Ron DeSantis
  • Health & Society
    • Flagler County Health Department
    • Ask the Doctor Column
    • Health Care
    • Health Care Business
    • Covid-19
    • Children and Families
    • Medicaid and Medicare
    • Mental Health
    • Poverty
    • Violence
  • All Else
    • Daily Briefing
    • Americana
    • Obituaries
    • News Briefs
    • Weather and Climate
    • Wildlife

For a Few Cents Less: Legislature Moving to Slow Required Minimum Wage Increases

April 6, 2011 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

The state’s constitutionally-mandated minimum wage would grow at a slower rate under a measure that narrowly passed a House committee Tuesday allowing the state to take into account years in which the cost of living goes down.




By a 13-11 vote, the House Finance and Tax Committee approved a bill (HB 1425) that changes the way the state calculates increases in the state’s minimum wage, part of an index that was added to the Florida Constitution in 2004 after being approved by 72 percent of voters.

Sponsored by Rep. John Tobia, R-Melbourne, the measure would require the Agency for Workforce Innovation to factor in decreases in the Consumer Price Index that occasionally occur when the country enters a recession.

The bill would not allow any year’s minimum wage to be less than the previous year. But it would require state officials to calculate future minimum wage increases taking into account the lower adjusted figure.

Over the long haul, the bill would slow the increase in the minimum wage by occasionally reducing the base by which subsequent increases were calculated.

Click On:


  • DeSantis Criticizes Proposal to Raise Minimum Wage to $15, Saying It’ll Hurt Restaurant Owners
  • Benefits of a $15 Minimum Wage: The Non-Partisan Evidence
  • Time for $15 an Hour and a Union
  • Florida’s More Conservative Supreme Court Rejects Considering Minimum Wage Case
  • Showdown Over Local Control as State Aims to Stop Miami Beach From Raising Minimum Wage
  • Chain Restaurants Hurt the Economy, Pollute, And Pay Poverty Wages. Eat Local Instead.
  • Disney’s CEO Makes $248 a Minute as Some of His Employees Go Homeless on $8.03 an Hour
  • Do the Math: You Couldn’t Live On Minimum Wage

“I’m not here to lower the minimum wage,” Tobia said. “I’m here to put in common sense. There is nothing that is common sense adding to someone’s wage when the CPI is going down.”

Florida is one of seven states with similar laws that increase minimum wage every year to keep up with inflation. The other states — Arizona, Colorado, Ohio, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington – increased their state rates Jan. 1. Florida did not.

Florida is facing a lawsuit filed in January by Florida Legal Service on behalf of 188,000 workers after AWI did not increase the state minimum wage to $7.31 per hour from $7.21 an hour, the minimum wage in 2010. State officials justified the difference because they had reduced the Florida’s minimum wage in 2010 to reflect a reduction in the CPI, a commonly used inflation barometer, during the 2008-09 fiscal year.

Instead, minimum wage workers saw their hourly rate increase to $7.25, the federal minimum wage. The lawsuit contends the state shortchanged workers the six cents per hour difference between the federal rate and what the state rate would otherwise have been. “This is just an attempt to get the state out from under a lawsuit,” said Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee.

A Senate version of the legislation (SB 1610) was discussed in the Senate Commerce and Tourism Committee on Tuesday but no vote was taken. The House bill now travels to the floor.

“We’re talking here about $2.40 a week,” said Rep. Scott Randolph, D-Orlando, “I urge you to have a conscience and vote against this bill.”

–-Michael Peltier, News Service of Florida

Support FlaglerLive's End of Year Fundraiser
Thank you readers for getting us to--and past--our year-end fund-raising goal yet again. It’s a bracing way to mark our 15th year at FlaglerLive. Our donors are just a fraction of the 25,000 readers who seek us out for the best-reported, most timely, trustworthy, and independent local news site anywhere, without paywall. FlaglerLive is free. Fighting misinformation and keeping democracy in the sunshine 365/7/24 isn’t free. Take a brief moment, become a champion of fearless, enlightening journalism. Any amount helps. We’re a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donations are tax deductible.  
You may donate openly or anonymously.
We like Zeffy (no fees), but if you prefer to use PayPal, click here.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. lawabidingcitizen says

    April 6, 2011 at 4:40 pm

    Rep. Randolph urges legislators to “have a conscience” and vote to further destroy the economy. Way to go Randy.

  2. palmcoaster says

    April 6, 2011 at 5:05 pm

    Every one in line please, to get their passports to slavery! These corporate interest driven GOP’s in Tallahassee are pushing hard for the goal of the US$130/month paid to Chinese slaves manufacturing the I-phones and I-pads and the PC’s and Desktops for their American Corporate bosses that will sell those here. Slavery is very profitable! If we let them….
    http://www.businessinsider.com/the-shocking-conditions-inside-chinas-brutal-foxconn-factory-2010-5

  3. NortonSmitty says

    April 7, 2011 at 10:36 am

    LAC, in a consumer-based economy such as ours, what will destroy it even faster than the Multi-National Corporate ass-kissing Republicans currently are doing is having slave wages. How can someone making $288.40 a week before taxes purchase anything? And how could one person possibly live on $14,996 a year, let alone raise a family. Something we should think about instead of listening to the right wing teabagging fucksticks making snarky remarks about anyone showing the smallest amount of compassion for the Loser Americans who actually have to exist on these crumbs.

    The next time you hear some pompous ass on TV bragging about how BMW, Toyota and even the Koreans like Hyndai and Kia are investing in their home state, remember they are only doing this because they can get labor cheaper here than they can at home. In other words, WE ARE A FUCKING THIRD WORLD COUNTRY NOW! Mainly because of 30 years of Reganomic help to corporations, union busting and tax policies. It might be time to update that tired old “Land of the Brave, Home of the Free” thing to a newer more relative motto. I suggest “America, the new Mexico”.

  4. Kyle Russell says

    April 10, 2011 at 8:44 pm

    Considering corporations are sitting on record profits gained from increases in productivity (meaning workers doing more for the same pay because companies haven’t been hiring), an increase in the minimum wage would be a rather convenient way to increase aggregate demand…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

  • Conner Bosch law attorneys lawyers offices palm coast flagler county
  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Primary Sidebar

  • grand living realty
  • politis matovina attorneys for justice personal injury law auto truck accidents

Recent Comments

  • Ray W, on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, May 27, 2025
  • mm on Don’t Buy the False Narrative that Palm Coast’s Infrastructure Isn’t Keeping Up with Growth
  • Pogo on At Flagler Tiger Bay, Ex-US Attorney General Gives Bullish View of ‘Unitary’ Executive Power, With Nod to Calvin Coolidge
  • Kennan on Why the Far Right Fabricated the Myth of a Migrant ‘Invasion’
  • Sherry on Democracy’s Sunset: There’s a 70% Chance the Constitution Will Be Suspended Before 2028
  • Sherry on The Daily Cartoon and Live Briefing: Tuesday, May 27, 2025
  • Ray W, on Why the Far Right Fabricated the Myth of a Migrant ‘Invasion’
  • Ray W, on Why the Far Right Fabricated the Myth of a Migrant ‘Invasion’
  • DaleL on No, Race Is Not a ‘Biological Reality’
  • Deborah Coffey on Why You Fall for Fake Health Information
  • The dude on Why You Fall for Fake Health Information
  • c on At Flagler Tiger Bay, Ex-US Attorney General Gives Bullish View of ‘Unitary’ Executive Power, With Nod to Calvin Coolidge
  • William Moya on At Flagler Tiger Bay, Ex-US Attorney General Gives Bullish View of ‘Unitary’ Executive Power, With Nod to Calvin Coolidge
  • James on At Flagler Tiger Bay, Ex-US Attorney General Gives Bullish View of ‘Unitary’ Executive Power, With Nod to Calvin Coolidge
  • Deborah Coffey on At Flagler Tiger Bay, Ex-US Attorney General Gives Bullish View of ‘Unitary’ Executive Power, With Nod to Calvin Coolidge
  • Deborah Coffey on Solemnity and Dissonance at Palm Coast’s Memorial Day Ceremony as Congressman Invokes 1.2 Million Casualties

Log in