Dems Attack Latest Minimum Wage Bill

Michigan Democrats today blasted a Republican bill that would render moot a ballot proposal raising the state’s minimum wage. The legislation from Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville repeals the state’s current minimum wage law, replacing it with a new law that would increase the minimum wage beginning September 1, 2014, to $8.15 an hour. The measure was kept on the Senate floor instead of going to a committee. Democrats say it undermines the democratic process and is an attempt to silence voters. The ballot proposal would gradually increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour across the board, including for tipped workers, whose hourly rate currently stands at $2.65. If the GOP bill is approved, the ballot proposal would be null and void since it would be amending a law that no longer would exists.