Kevin Barnhart | WWL.com
Following a 5-1 vote, a constitutional amendment that aims to raise the minimum wage in Louisiana to $9 an hour on July 1, 2020, is headed to the Senate floor, where the effort died last year. New Orleans Senator Troy Carter said a bump in the minimum wage would show people that the state is serious about taking care of the working poor.
“The mothers and fathers who are out working trying diligently to care for their families and to provide resources so they are not simply depending on the resources of government to survive,” said Carter
Governor John Bel Edwards has sought an increase in the minimum wage since taking office in 2016.
Since it is a constitutional amendment, it will need a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate and voter approval in the fall.
President and CEO of Ochsner Health System Warner Thomas spoke in favor, saying Ochsner has decided to raise its own minimum wage to $12 an hour.
“There’s an overall benefit to retain people in Louisiana, retain people in our communities, versus having them potentially leave and go to other places, so that’s what we’ve seen and what our experience has done,” said Thomas.
NFIB Louisiana director Dawn Starns said a mandated wage increase would negatively impact small businesses and result in a net loss of 36,000 jobs in the state.
“We believe that philosophically the market should dictate the wages and an arbitrary increase will only hurt the people that proponents are saying they want to help,” said Starns.
The Louisiana Association of Business and Industry is also in opposition. Vice president of government relations Jim Patterson applauds the businesses that have decided to raise their minimum wages, but not all businesses have the resources to do it.
“This legislation is a one size fits all approach that essentially means that all businesses would have to comply and not all businesses would be able to,” said Patterson.
The current minimum wage is set at $7.25 an hour.
