Legislature(2009 - 2010)BELTZ 211
02/24/2009 01:30 PM Senate LABOR & COMMERCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| SB1 | |
| SB84 | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 1 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 84 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| + | TELECONFERENCED |
SB 1-ALASKA MINIMUM WAGE
CHAIR PASKVAN announced SB 1 to be up for consideration.
SENATOR THOMAS moved to adopt CSSB 1, labeled 26-LS006\E, and
objected for discussion purposes.
2:05:23 PM
CHAIR PASKVAN explained that SB 1 sets Alaska's minimum wage at
$1 above the federal minimum wage. If they had used the same
proportions of $.04 and $.42 applied to stamps over the last 50
years, Alaska's minimum wage would be an additional $5/hr. at
$12.25. He found that the first legislature 50 years ago said
the Alaska the minimum wage would be approximately 50 percent of
the federal minimum wage, which in 2009 would be a difference of
$7.25. If that same principle were applied now, $3.62 would be
added to the current rate, which would equate to a $10.87/hr.
minimum wage.
At the same time the committee has heard from the business
community that these are troubling times for the nation and he
didn't want to impose too much of a burden at one time, so the
CS is at $1 above federal minimum wage and it takes effect
January 1, 2010.
SENATOR BUNDE mentioned that the CS does not involve an
automatic escalator or COLA.
CHAIR PASKVAN said that was correct.
SENATOR THOMAS removed his objection and therefore, version E
was before the committee.
2:08:36 PM
SENATOR BUNDE moved to adopt Amendment 1.
26-LS0006\R.2
Cook/Wayne
AMENDMENT 1
OFFERED IN THE SENATE
TO SB 1 BY SENATOR BUNDE
Page 1, line 1, following "Act":
Insert "relating to the minimum hourly wage,"
Page 1, line 12, following "section":
Insert "except as provided in (d) of this
section"
Page 2, following line 12:
Insert a new bill section to read:
"* Sec. 2. AS 23.10.065 is amended by adding a new
subsection to read:
(d) An employer may apply tips or gratuities
bestowed upon an employee as a credit toward payment
of the minimum hourly wage required by this section
equal to 30 percent of that minimum wage. The credit
may be applied only if the
(1) employee receives tips or gratuities in
the course of the employment;
(2) tips or gratuities equal or exceed an
average hourly amount of at least $15 calculated for
the pay period for which the credit is applied;
(3) amount of tips or gratuities can be
determined by the employee's declaration for purposes
of 26 U.S.C. 3101 (Federal Insurance Contributions
Act); and
(4) employee was informed by the employer
of the provisions of this subsection at least 30 days
before an employer first elects to apply tips or
gratuities as a credit toward payment of the minimum
hourly wage of that employee."
Renumber the following bill section accordingly.
SENATOR THOMAS objected for discussion purposes.
CHAIR PASKVAN announced an at ease at 2:09 p.m.
2:10:24 PM
CHAIR PASKVAN called the meeting back to order at 2:10.
SENATOR BUNDE explained that a lot of people from the
hospitality industry have testified that wait staff is often in
the $20-wage category and they would get a raise when the people
in the back of the house who are already working for more than
minimum wage, but substantially less than $20/hr. would not get
a raise. He didn't think Amendment 1 would cost anything, and it
would help businesses maintain jobs.
SENATOR THOMAS said he didn't understand objections to tipped
employees getting a minimum wage increase. Many places share
tips.
2:15:21 PM
SENATOR MEYER said he understands that 45 other states have some
sort of a tip credit, and he asked Senator Bunde how he came up
with 30 percent more versus 10 or 15 percent. He agreed with
Senator Thomas that if he has a good waiter or waitress he wants
to reward them, and this amendment would reduce what they would
get.
2:17:57 PM
A roll call vote was taken. Senator Bunde voted yea; Senators
Meyer, Davis, Thomas and Paskvan voted nay; so Amendment 1
failed.
SENATOR BUNDE said since the legislature proposed to receive a
50 percent pay raise and since the amount proposed in the CS was
not based on any hard data, he wanted to offer conceptual
Amendment 2 to: "Instead of a dollar more than federal minimum
wage, which would make it $8.15 instead of $7.15, my amendment
would make the minimum wage at $14.30, double what it is
currently, similar to the proposal to double our legislative
salary. That seems to be as much a precedent as anything."
He added that with this amendment, people at minimum wage would
make about $570/wk. or almost $2300/mo. or $27,500/yr. That
would take them to about current legislative pay levels -
substantially above the poverty level.
SENATOR THOMAS objected and said that people are concerned with
raising the minimum to $1 - $1.50, and they would be even more
concerned with this figure. He believed the CS addressed the
major complaints he has heard and he sees in most of the
restaurants he goes to that people move up. People have said the
reason they have the lower wage is because it's a beginning
wage.
2:21:49 PM
SENATOR BUNDE said, "The current proposal leaves people in
poverty, and if you want to take them out of poverty, here's an
opportunity to do it."
SENATOR THOMAS said the restaurateurs who have commented
anecdotally said few of these people were living in poverty and
were making anywhere from $30,000 to $60,000. Some of that has
to be taken factually.
2:22:35 PM
A roll call vote was taken. Senator Bunde voted yea; Senators
Meyer, Davis, Thomas and Paskvan voted nay; and so conceptual
Amendment 2 failed.
AL LEVINSON, Restaurant owner, Anchorage, wanted to know if the
tip credit (Amendment 1) failed.
CHAIR PASKVAN said that it had failed.
2:24:08 PM
VINCE BELTRAMI, President, Alaska AFL-CIO, supported SB 1.
However, he was a little disappointed they lowered the amount to
$1 over the federal minimum wage and eliminated the CPI.
Washington and Oregon have had good experiences using the CPI in
terms of both jobs and business. Recent data shows that
Washington had an over 10 percent increase in restaurant and bar
employment from the time it passed the increase up until 2006,
"which punched a hole in the argument that the minimum wage
increase is bad for business." Other studies have shown no
evidence of negative employment effects on small business as a
result of increasing the minimum wage.
MR. BALTRAMI said he found a paper published by the National
Employment Law Project that speaks to Alaska's tipped employees.
Senator Thomas and Senator Meyer hit the nail on the head when
he said a tip credit is punitive to waiters and waitresses, some
of whom are professional. A lot of people make their living on
tips; since the last minimum wage increase in 2003, they have
not had an increase. There has been a roughly 18 percent-
increase in the cost of living without a comparable increase in
pay.
He has seen a lot of menu prices go up with the increased cost
of business, but since employees aren't getting increases, he
wasn't sure how negatively impacted the restaurant owners would
really be with this raise. But higher wages could result in a
positive impact of more people being able to go out and spend
money and spend it in their establishments and in the general
economy. He also mentioned that he is gathering the initial 100
signatures for a ballot initiative to raise the minimum wage to
what was originally proposed in SB 1.
SENATOR BUNDE asked if he would have supported his Amendment 2.
MR. BELTRAMI replied there has to be an element of
reasonableness, and it wasn't realistic.
CHAIR PASKVAN closed public testimony.
2:30:59 PM
SENATOR THOMAS moved to pass CSSB 1(L&C) from committee with
individual recommendations and attached fiscal notes.
SENATOR BUNDE objected.
A roll call vote was taken. Senators Thomas, Meyer, Davis and
Paskvan voted yea; Senator Bunde voted nay; so CSSB 1(L&C) moved
from committee.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| SB01 - Alaska Minimum Wage - Bill Packet.pdf |
SL&C 2/5/2009 1:30:00 PM SL&C 2/12/2009 1:30:00 PM SL&C 2/17/2009 1:30:00 PM SL&C 2/24/2009 1:30:00 PM |
SB 1 |
| SB84 - AIDEA Bonding Limits.pdf |
SL&C 2/17/2009 1:30:00 PM SL&C 2/24/2009 1:30:00 PM SL&C 2/26/2009 1:30:00 PM |
SB 84 |