COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A Cleveland legislator wants retailers hoping to stuff their cash registers on Thanksgiving Day to give their employees triple wages or the option of staying home to stuff the bird, instead.

Democratic Rep. Mike Foley said Monday he is drafting legislation that would require retailers to pay their employees triple-time for hours worked on Thanksgiving Day or up to noon on Black Friday, the traditional kickoff day for the holiday shopping season.

But Foley acknowledged that the change probably couldn’t be passed in time for this year, and would likely face opposition from majority Republicans.

The idea came to him one morning when he and his wife were looking at the holiday sales circulars in the paper while having their morning coffee. What he noticed was that the traditional day-after-Thanksgiving sales that kicked off the season of shopping madness have slipped back to Thanksgiving Day. What once were early morning Friday sales slid back to midnight Thursday, and now to earlier in evening.

Some retail chains have said they will offer overtime to workers for the holiday intrusion. But the earlier shopping kickoffs don't sit well with Foley, who views it as commercializing a day for families.

“It’s a disturbing, creeping trend,” he said today. ““There are some days in the year where you should just be able to chill out and not have to worry about the whole consumeristic, commercial world.”

Foley said he has asked the Legislative Services Commission, a research arm of the General Assembly, to help prepare a bill that would require retailers to offer the triple-time wage or allow them to have the day off work without repercussions. He expects the bill will be ready next week.

“For Thanksgiving, give people the option of opting out and not working if they want to spend it with their families,” he said.

Foley doesn’t have any false illusions about the bill. While he thinks the state would have the authority to enact the law, it probably couldn’t be done in time to impact this year.

Bills signed by the governor into law don’t take effect for 90 days, unless they are passed as emergency measures. So unless passed at lightning speed as an emergency, the bill would not become effective until 2014.

And then there is the problem of getting it passed at all. Foley is one of 39 Democrats in the Ohio House. There are 60 Republicans. He hasn’t sought co-sponsors yet, but isn’t holding out high hopes for bipartisan support.

That’s because the bill would involve government stepping in to regulate commerce, something Republicans in the House are likely to oppose.

“I absolutely get that. I absolutely get that.”

And yet, Foley said, “Who knows, maybe some of the guys feel the same way I do.”