LAUGH OR CRY: Bob Ballinger is at work, just not for the public interest.

LAUGH OR CRY: Bob Ballinger is at work, just not for the public interest.

In November, 68.5 percent of Arkansas voters approved an increase in the state minimum wage. Today, barely two months later, Sen. Bob Ballinger has introduced legislation to roll it back for many workers.

Ballinger proposes to exempt:


* People younger than 18.

* All schools, public or private.


* Employers with fewer than 50 employees.

* Nonprofit organizations.


I’d like to see some numbers impact on this special interest legislation.

Remember when Ballinger got his feelings hurt when people laughed at him at a public speech for saying legislators were only working in the public interest?

You could laugh again, but crying seems more appropriate.

It will take a two-thirds vote of the legislature to amend the constitutional amendment that moves the minimum wage in phases to $11 by 2021.


Correction: This was an initiated act, not amendment . It will require a two-thirds vote to change.

Ballinger’s proposal would also apply to the earlier increase. It would gut the minimum wage. It would put most Arkansas workers under the federal statute, currently a pitiful $7.25.

Call the roll. Let’s see who the Republicans in the legislature are working for.

PS: I forgot to credit Republican Rep. Frances Cavenaugh of Walnut Ridge for also spitting on Arkansas voters. She is listed as a sponsor as well on the Senate bill.