HE'S BACK: Ballinger once again sets his sights on undoing the will of the voters on minimum wage.

HE'S BACK: Ballinger once again sets his sights on undoing the will of the voters on minimum wage.



Rep. Bob Ballinger yesterday added an amendment to his bill to undo the will of the voters and roll back the state minimum wage. The bill had been moved to the “deferred list” in the Senate Public Health committee in late January, leading to speculation that Ballinger might not have the votes. He has now tweaked the bill and told me that he is considering running it as soon as next week.

In November, 68.5 percent of Arkansas voters approved a ballot initiative to increase the state minimum wage, in phases, to $11 by 2021. A previous initiative, in 2014, had increased the state minimum wage to $8.50, backed by 66 percent of voters.

Just a few months after voters overwhelmingly approved the wage bump, Ballinger aims to roll it back for many workers. His initial proposal would have exempted people younger than 18; all schools, public or private; nonprofit organizations; and employers with fewer than 50 people (under current law, employers with fewer than four employees are exempt).

As amended, Ballinger’s bill still exempts those younger than 18 but adds two new categories of exempt employees who could be paid less than the state minimum wage: those convicted of a felony and people with developmental disabilities.


The amendment also eliminates Ballinger’s proposed exemption for schools and no longer exempts nonprofits with 25 or more employees. Employers (including nonprofits) with fewer than 25 employees would be exempt under the amended proposal, moving the threshold down from Ballinger’s original proposal of 50 (but still well above the exemption under current law for employers with fewer than four employees).

Even as amended, Ballinger’s bill would gut the minimum wage hike approved by voters. It would eliminate the minimum wage passed in both 2014 and 2018 for thousands of workers, leaving them with the federal minimum wage of $7.25.


Ballinger’s bill would require a two-thirds vote by both houses of the legislature to upend the initiated act.