GOP Bill Aims To Reclassify And Reduce Student Wages
GOP State lawmakers are taking another swing at the voter mandated minimum wage law. State Rep. Travis Grantham's bill re-classifies employees who are students, under age 22, and working less than 20 hours a week, as "casual basis" hires.
Under that classification, employers would be allowed to pay the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour instead of the state mandated minimum wage of $11.
"I believe this will actually increase the number of jobs that are available and get more people in the workforce and help lower that youth unemployment rate," Grantham said, "That's why I did this."
The bill passed a house committee along party lines, but House Democrats and policy analysts warn it undermines the 2016 approved minimum wage law, which falls under the Voter Protection Act.
