Utah’s minimum wage will not be raised, thanks to lawamakers in both the Senate and House voting down measures that would increase liveable wages for its citizens. The state’s minimum wage has remained the same since 1997. 18 other states and the District of Columbia have successfully passed measures to raise minimum wages this year.
The legislation, introduced by Ed Mayne, D-West Valley, first was proposed to increase the minimum wage from $5.15 – $7.00. Mayne later amended the bill to raise the wage to $6.50, in the hopes of getting more conservatives to advocate the measure.
During the hearing yesterday, despite dozens of advocates for the bill appearing to make testimony, only three people on each side of the issue were permitted to speak.
“This is just more and more hypocrisy to the process,” the senator said after SB43 was voted down, maintaining that his Republican colleagues voted to limit public testimony to three because that was the most they could round up to speak against the measure.
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 