Maryland lawmakers OK’d a bill on Wednesday that would increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. The state’s Senate and House of Delegates, both controlled by Democrats, approved the Fight for 15 bill with enough votes to override a potential veto from Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican who opposes the proposed increase. The legislation going to Hogan’s desk would raise the minimum wage from the current $10.10 per hour to $15 by 2025 for companies with 15 or more workers. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. “People who are making at, or just around, the minimum wage don’t tend to put their earnings into long-term investments,” Sen. Delores Kelley (D) told The Baltimore Sun. “They spend that money on a daily basis. They spend it as quickly as they get it.”

Just a reminder on the math involved with the minimum wage.



Federal: 40 hours/week for 52 weeks at $7.25 = $15,080

Maryland: 40 hours/week for 52 weeks at $10.10 = $21,008

Md. proposed: 40 hours/week for 52 weeks at $15 = $31,200 https://t.co/YDW8dUOoyo — Pamela Wood (@pwoodreporter) March 20, 2019

The chambers’ respective bills could not initially agree on whether to give smaller businesses more time to implement the new wage. The Senate version gave companies with fewer than 15 employees until January 2028 to increase pay to $15. The House version called for companies of all sizes to increase the wage by January 2025. The chambers came to a compromise Tuesday, giving companies with fewer than 15 employees until July 2026 to increase the wage. The state constitution says a bill submitted to the governor at least six days before the end of a legislative session will become law after six days unless the governor rejects the bill. In that scenario, the General Assembly can then vote whether to override the veto before adjourning. The House of Delegates voted 93-41 in favor of the bill’s final version, and the Senate approved it 32-13, giving the General Assembly a margin that would allow members to override a potential Hogan veto, according to the Sun. The governor has not publicly said whether he will veto the legislation, but he has spoken against the increase and called it unsustainable. He proposed a smaller wage increase this month, to $12.10 per hour over two years. He said Monday the increase to $15 would “harm our state’s economy.”

Disappointing when the Governor of our state actively chooses to go so very, very low. #MDdeservesbetter#MDGA19#working4md#whentheygolow

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan calls Democrat-controlled legislature 'reckless' and 'pro-criminal' https://t.co/LpktV2JXeY — Del. Maggie McIntosh (@DelMaggie43) March 18, 2019