Just one week into Virginia’s 2024 legislative session, partisan divides have started creeping into debates, as lawmakers consider bills that have Republicans and Democrats on opposite sides of various issues.
Among the first bills to draw such partisan debate was legislation that would raise the minimum wage in Virginia, which currently sits at $12 per hour. Under the bill, the minimum wage would increase to $13.50 per hour in 2025, and then rise again to $15 in 2026.
The bill passed through the Senate Committee on Commerce and Labor Monday by a 9-6 vote, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.
“This just strikes me as an example of shooting first and asking questions later,” said Republican state Sen. Mark Obenshain, who expressed concern that it would have a negative impact on business owners.
“This is a big deal to many regions across the Commonwealth of Virginia,” Obenshain said. “It’s going to have the capacity to hurt many small businesses.”
Democratic state Sen. Scott Surovell, the Senate’s majority leader, pointed to inflation and said the pay hike was necessary.
“Nobody really contemplated that we were going to have a pandemic and a massive infusion of government cash, which was going to drive inflation through the roof,” Surovell said.
Surovell argued that, due to inflation, it would be “extraordinarily wise” to pass the bill.
The bill will now be considered by another committee — the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee.
If approved there, the legislation would then head to the full Senate for consideration.
Even if Democrats, who control the General Assembly, pass the bill though, its fate would be uncertain after heading to Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who would have the power to veto the legislation.
In 2020, the Virginia General Assembly voted to raise the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $12 an hour over a period of three years, allowing for flexibility in the future if lawmakers wanted to vote to raise it further.
Since then, other jurisdictions in the region have hiked their minimum wages above Virginia’s.
In Maryland, under a law signed by Gov. Wes Moore, the state’s minimum wage went from $13.25 an hour to $15 an hour at the start of January. In D.C., the minimum wage is currently $17 per hour.
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