R.I., Mass. legislators push forward minimum wage hikes

BOSTON – The Massachusetts House and Senate on Wednesday approved raising the state’s minimum wage to $11 per hour over the next three years, the Associated Press reported.

The legislation, a compromise between proposed Senate and House bills, would lift the minimum wage from the current $8 per hour to $9 per hour on Jan. 1, 2015, to $10 per hour in 2016, and to $11 in 2017.

The Senate bill had originally called for an $11 minimum wage indexed to inflation, while the House bill proposed a $10.50 wage without indexing. The newly reached compromise – which will raise the minimum wage to $11 per hour but will not tie future increases to inflation – must now be approved by both chambers.

In Rhode Island, legislation proposing to raise the Ocean State’s minimum wage from $8 to $9 next January passed in the Senate, also on Wednesday. Sen. Erin P. Lynch, D-Warwick, who sponsored the bill, said raising Rhode Island’s minimum wage would keep the state competitive with nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut.

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Connecticut recently enacted a law that will raise that state’s minimum wage from the current $8.70 to $9.15 on January 1, 2015, then to $9.60 in 2016 and $10.10 in 2017.

The federal minimum wage, which has not changed since 2009, is $7.25.

The bill approved by the R.I. Senate will now go before the House of Representatives, where similar legislation has been introduced by Rep. David A. Bennett, D-Warwick, and is currently in committee.

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