Baltimore City Council
File #: 13-0114R    Version: 0 Name: Request for State Action - Increase the Maryland Minimum Wage
Type: City Council Resolution Status: Adopted
File created: 8/12/2013 In control: City Council
On agenda: Final action: 8/12/2013
Enactment #:
Title: Request for State Action - Increase the Maryland Minimum Wage FOR the purpose of showing support for raising and indexing the state of Maryland’s minimum wage and the subminimum wage for tipped workers to restore it to its historic value, and calling upon the Maryland General Assembly to draft or pass, and the Governor to sign, legislation to do so.
Sponsors: Mary Pat Clarke, Bill Henry, Brandon M. Scott, Sharon Green Middleton, Helen L. Holton, Edward Reisinger, Warren Branch, President Young, Robert Curran, James B. Kraft, Nick Mosby, Carl Stokes, William "Pete" Welch
Indexes: Minimum Wage, Resolution
Attachments: 1. 13-0114R - 1st Reader.pdf
* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
      INTRODUCTORY*
 
      CITY OF BALTIMORE
      COUNCIL BILL           R
      (Resolution)
                                                                                                                                                           
Introduced by: Councilmember Clarke
                                                                                                                                                           
 
      A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
 
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
title
Request for State Action - Increase the Maryland Minimum Wage
 
FOR the purpose of showing support for raising and indexing the state of Maryland's minimum wage and the subminimum wage for tipped workers to restore it to its historic value, and calling upon the Maryland General Assembly to draft or pass, and the Governor to sign, legislation to do so.
body
 
  WHEREAS, the state of Maryland's minimum wage is only $7.25 per hour, or $15,000 a year for a fulltime, year round worker.
 
  WHEREAS, the state of Maryland's minimum wage currently leaves fulltime earners and their families below the federal poverty line.
 
  WHEREAS, the state of Maryland's minimum wage would be over $10.60 per hour had it kept up with the rising cost of living over the last forty years.
 
  WHEREAS, the overwhelming majority of workers subject to the subminimum wage for tipped workers are women.
 
  WHEREAS, nineteen states have raised their minimum wages above the state of Maryland's rate, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
 
  WHEREAS, ten states index the minimum wage each year to keep pace with the rising cost of living  a key protection to prevent the minimum wage from eroding again.
 
  WHEREAS, raising the state of Maryland's minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, increasing the subminimum wage for tipped workers from 50 percent to 70 percent of the full minimum wage, and indexing both wage rates to rise automatically with the cost of living each year would raise pay for more than 472,000 workers in Maryland and generate more than $466 million in new economic growth, resulting in more than 4,060 new fulltime jobs as higher sales lead businesses to hire more employees.
 
  WHEREAS, wages and salaries now make up the lowest share of national income since 1966, while corporate profits are now the largest share of national income since 1950.
 
 
 
  WHEREAS, the minimum wage is becoming more important than ever to Maryland's economy as more workers rely on lowwage jobs to make ends meet, and as job growth since the recession has been disproportionately concentrated in lowwage occupations.
 
  WHEREAS, the most rigorous academic research shows that raising the minimum wage boosts incomes of lowpaid workers without reducing employment, even during periods of high unemployment.
 
  NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, that the Council supports raising and indexing the state of Maryland's minimum wage and the subminimum wage for tipped workers to restore it to its historic value, and calls upon the Maryland General Assembly to draft or pass, and the Governor to sign, legislation to do so.  
   
   AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, the Governor, the Honorable Chairs and Members of the Baltimore City Senate and House Delegations to the 2014 Maryland General Assembly, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
 
 
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