William Petroski

bpetrosk@dmreg.com

Iowa's minimum wage would be frozen at $7.25 an hour in all 99 counties under a bill headed to the Iowa Senate floor for final consideration.

House File 295 is aimed at stopping cities and counties from exercising local control on issues that Republican lawmakers contend conflict with state law, including setting minimum wages. The measure was approved Wednesday on a 9-6 vote in the Senate State Government Committee with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats opposed.

The bill, which has already passed the Iowa House, would roll back minimum wage increases already approved in four counties, including Polk, Johnson, Linn and Wapello. In addition, Lee County supervisors are in the process of approving a minimum wage hike.

"This prevents a patchwork quilt of different regulations," and ensures uniformity for wages on a statewide basis, said Sen. Randy Feenstra, R-Hull, who spoke in favor of the bill. It's still possible the Legislature could consider legislation this session to raise the minimum wage, Republicans said, but none expressed support Wednesday for a specific increase.

Democrats on the committee harshly criticized the bill, saying county boards of supervisors have been raising the minimum wage to account for higher costs of living in some Iowa communities. In Polk County, for example, wages are scheduled to grow incrementally to $10.75 an hour by 2019, beginning with an increase to $8.75 an hour.

"These counties see the poverty and they see the need," said Sen. Tony Bisignano, D-Des Moines, who noted Iowa's minimum wage has not been raised since 2008. A majority of Iowa's minimum-wage earners are women, he added, saying they typically spend 100 percent of their income in their communities, which helps small businesses.

Polk County's minimum wage hike: Who is in, who is out

Sen. Janet Petersen, D-Des Moines, noted that Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican, had promised to raise Iowans' family incomes by 25 percent when he campaigned for office in 2010. She said Republican lawmakers are, in effect, telling thousands of Iowans they don't deserve an increase in the minimum wage. But Sen. Roby Smith, R-Davenport, who chaired the committee, disagreed, remarking, "Nothing in this bill will prevent someone from being paid higher than the minimum wage.”

Feenstra, responding to a question, said it's not known how much statewide income would be lost under the proposed legislation. But Sen. Tod Bowman, D-Maquoketa, said it's clear that Republicans would be taking money out of the pockets of low-income Iowans.

"This is certainly not going to increase wages. I am certainly not seeing any indication that it will help employees earn more," Bowman said.

While the committee didn't consider any proposals to raise the minimum wage above $7.25 an hour, Smith said it's still possible Republican lawmakers could take action on the issue this session. But Smith's comment was met with skepticism from Democrats, as well as Sen. David Johnson of Ocheyedan, the Senate's sole independent lawmaker. Johnson said the possibility of majority Republicans raising the minimum wage this session is "laughable on its face."

The bill would also prohibit local control for counties on other policy issues, such as paid family leave, implementing a soda tax or banning the use of plastic bags. That prompted a critical comment from Petersen, who remarked, "A bill with plastics and paychecks ... What a crazy combination, and we are impacting peoples lives.”

Smith responded that Petersen was welcome to offer amendments in the committee or on the Senate floor if she wanted to make changes.

After the Senate committee's vote, Matt Everson, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, issued a statement praising the committee's action. He said preventing counties or municipalities from determining baselines for wages and certain other employer standards is vital to ensuring that the small business community can operate throughout Iowa with continuity and labor cost predictability.

"By guaranteeing wage and employment benefit consistency from town to town in our state, small business owners will have the confidence they need to create more jobs for hard-working Iowans," Everson said.