Resolution would ask Arizona voters to repeal minimum wage hikes
Jan 26, 2018, 2:19 PM | Updated: 8:11 pm
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
PHOENIX — A resolution in the Arizona Senate would ask voters to repeal further hikes of the state’s minimum wage, deny mandatory sick leave and block attempts by cities to raise the lowest amount paid to workers.
Senate Concurrent Resolution 1016 was introduced by a group of Republican state senators and representatives.
Under the resolution, the minimum wage would hold firm at $10.50 per hour instead of increasing to $12 per hour by 2020.
The resolution would also remove a law that requires employers to give employees at least three sick days per year and block cities from raising their own minimum wage.
One of the bill’s backers, state Sen. Sylvia Allen (R-Snowflake) told the Arizona Daily Star that she felt it was morally wrong for the government to raise wages. Instead, she said it should be left to the free market to determine.
“I don’t individually have the right to go in and tell anybody how they run their business,” she told the outlet. “It’s their private property.”
She said the resolution would provide businesses with more stability.
Proponents of the bill argue that it has been good for the state’s economy and those seeking to remove it only have their own interests at heart.
“It’s sad,” Tomas Robles, whose Living United for Change in Arizona was one of the groups responsible for getting the hikes on the ballot, told the Sun.
“It’s a reflection of how much Republicans in this Legislature are willing to put the will of the Chamber of Commerce above the voters and our workers in Arizona.”
The resolution has received two readings in the state Senate and has been assigned to committee. As of Friday afternoon, it had not received a vote.
There was no timeline given for the measure to be placed on the ballot, should the Legislature pass it.
Voters approved Proposition 206 to raise wages and require sick days in the last general election.
Several groups moved immediately to block the measure, including the Arizona Chamber of Commerce. In a lawsuit, the chamber argued the law violated the Arizona Constitution because it failed to identify a funding source for its budget implications.
However, the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case, which meant the law stood.
