Minimum Wage Bill Introduced in Springfield

Under SB 1, the minimum wage for employees over the age of 18 will be $9.25 per hour on Jan 1, 2020, rising to $15 per hour on Jan.1 2025.  The $15 per wage will be eased in over a period of six years.  

Lightford’s bill also proposes a tax credit that would help employers with 50 or fewer full-time employees offset some of the cost of raising wages. Employers would be able to deduct 25 percent of the cost in 2020, and the credit would then scale back annually until hitting 5 percent in 2025. It would phase out entirely for employers with more than five employees in 2028.

The credits wouldn’t be available to franchise owners whose businesses belong to chains with more than 50 workers.

It also appears the credit is available to unitary business groups, without defining what a unitary business group is. 

Employers would be able to continue paying a lower wage to workers under 18 if they work fewer than 650 hours in a year.

The minimum wage for younger employees — currently $7.75 per hour — would increase to $8 on Jan. 1 and peak at $13 per hour in 2025.

$8.50 per hour beginning Jan 1, 2021.

$13.00 per hour beginning in 2025.

The bill contains no link to raising State grants to for profit/non-profit organizations.