(SitNews) Juneau, Alaska – The Alaska House of Representatives voted Sunday to increase the state’s minimum wage by $2.00 over the next two years and inflation-proof it moving forward. House Bill 384 would raise the minimum wage for 1.8 percent of Alaska’s workforce for the first time since the $.50 increase of 2007.

However, Alaskans for a Fair Minimum Wage chair Ed Flanagan says this is a a blatant political maneuver by the Alaska House of Representatives designed to deny Alaskans the opportunity to vote on the already approved voter initiative to raise the state's Minimum Wage. The House passed HB 384 by a very close vote of 21-19 Sunday evening.

"Any member who truly supports a meaningful and lasting improvement in the lives of hard working, low-income Alaskans voted no on this cynical ploy to thwart the will of the people," said initiative sponsor Ed Flanagan. "The House Majority has acted in bad faith in bringing forward this bill. Their goal is clearly to remove the bill from the August ballot, where they believe it may influence the vote on the SB 21 referendum", said Flanagan.

The House Majority leadership introduced HB 384 through the Rules Committee on April 4, the 74th day of the 90 day session. The bill is, by design, similar to the initiative bill advanced by Alaskans for a Fair Minimum Wage and certified for the August 19 primary ballot by the lieutenant governor. Under Alaska law, if the legislature passes a bill "substantially similar" to an initiative, the measure is removed from the ballot.

“Alaskans have expressed broad support for increasing the wage, and we’ve listened,” Alaska Speaker of the House Mike Chenault, R-Nikiski, said. “We’ve sent the initiative through the legislative process, and it’s come out stronger because of it.”

HB 384 raises the state minimum wage by $1.25 this year and $1.00 next year, totaling $10.00. In the third year, inflation-proofing against the Anchorage Consumer Price Index (CPI) would begin to ensure the value of the minimum wage tracked with rising a cost-of-living and goods. The bill was amended on the House floor to change the effective date to July 1, 2014 instead of Jan. 1, 2015, meaning the first year raise to $9.00 takes effect six months sooner.

“We have a responsibility to represent our constituents, and hardworking Alaskans deserve to not have to wait for the minimum wage to increase in Alaska,” Representative Mia Costello, R-Anchorage, who carried the bill on the floor for the Majority, said.

Caucus leaders worked with their peers in the Alaska Senate for more than a month on the bill, hoping for a companion to be introduced in the other body. Following leadership discussions, Majority leadership decided to carry the issue forward separately, and a bill was drafted following the joint Judiciary Committee hearing on the ballot initiative. The House Labor & Commerce Committee heard the bill and took public testimony before sending it to House Rules for calendaring a floor vote.

“The Alaska Constitution offers the Legislature the avenue to enact substantially similar legislation should they deem the initiative good public policy, and in this case we believe it is,” House Rules Committee Chair Craig Johnson, R-Anchorage, said. “The benefit outweighs the wait and chance the measure could fail at the polls. I am glad to stick up for working Alaskans and bring them some certainty.”

Legislative intent language was also amended onto the bill on the floor, stating it is the Legislature’s intent to honor the bill’s passage for two years, similar to that of the initiative. “I want Alaskans to know that it’s not our intent to come back next year and amend statute, contrary to what was done the last time the issue was legislated before voters could act,” Speaker Chenault said.

HB 384, which passed by a vote of 21-19, now moves to the Senate for consideration.

Members of Senate leadership have expressed reluctance to take up HB 384. "We hope the Senate will continue to see this bill for what it is, and let Alaskans vote," said Flanagan.

Preemption of the vote would also set the stage for a repeat of what happened in 2003, when the legislature gutted a bill they had passed in 2002 to preempt an approved initiative by repealing the cost-of-living adjustment provision of the 2002 law. Had they let the law stand as passed in 2002, the minimum wage would be $9.53 today rather than $7.75 an hour. Representatives of low-wage industries have been in Juneau this year advocating for a similar move to moot the initiative so it can be gutted next year.

"Anyone who voted in favor of HB 384 is complicit in an attempt to perpetrate a fraud on the electorate and Alaskan workers," said Flanagan. "We are grateful to legislators who voted no because they support a minimum wage law that can't be gutted by the legislature for at least two years. And while we disagree with those who voted no because they do not support an increase, we respect their refusal to join in the charade this bill represents."

Edited by Mary Kauffman, SitNews

Sourcea of News: 

Alaska House Majority Caucus
www.akleg.gov

Alaskans for a Fair Minimum Wage
Vote YES on Ballot Measure 3: Raise the minimum wage
http://www.alaskaneedsaraise.org

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