Minimum Wage Raised In Maryland Over Veto

During floor debate, Democrats said it is unlikely that the Republican-led Congress, which last raised the federal minimum wage in 1997, would offer assistance to low-income workers soon. Maryland's new rate will take effect in 30 days.

"If you leave this to the federal government, it's not going to be done," said Sen. Thomas M. Middleton (D-Charles), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.

In an analysis of the bill last year, nonpartisan legislative aides estimated that 55,300 residents would receive a raise because of the bill. Advocates say a "ripple effect" would extend beyond that, with employers likely to bump up pay to those making slightly more than the minimum wage as well.

A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington suggested that 173,000 Marylanders could benefit.

Republican resistance during yesterday's debate was far less spirited than in last week's tug of war over the "Wal-Mart bill," which has the potential to affect benefits received by the company's 17,000 Maryland employees.

Sen. E.J. Pipkin (Queen Anne's), the only Republican to speak against the wage bill, said it would force employers to shed low-income jobs.

"We cannot overturn the law of supply and demand," Pipkin told his colleagues. "We've made employment at the lowest levels more expensive. We'll get less of it."

In his veto message last spring, Ehrlich called passage of the bill "a bad decision that elevates politics over economics and ultimately hurts the people it claims to help."

He said small businesses would have to raise costs for consumers or fire low-wage workers, arguing that "more than half of minimum wage workers nationally are of high school or college age, and minimum wage jobs for them are a means by which to enter the labor market and acquire skills necessary for career advancement."

Both leading Democratic candidates for governor strongly supported the bill. And like the Wal-Mart bill, it had backing from labor unions.

House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) made clear as he praised yesterday's vote that he believes these votes break along class and party lines.

Nationally, minimum-wage workers are concentrated in the leisure and hospitality industries. About one-quarter of minimum-wage earners are younger than 20, accordingly to legislative analysts, and slightly more than half are younger than 25.

"There's a growing disparity between the working class and the wealthy in Maryland," Busch said, adding that the average salary of a corporate chief executive rose 12 percent last year. "We're just looking for some fairness for the little guy here."

During debate on the measure in the House, Del. Maggie L. McIntosh (D-Baltimore) said it was "shameful" that the wage has not been increased in nine years. "Anybody recall what a gas-electric bill was in 1997?" asked McIntosh, who then held up her home heating bill, which had nearly doubled.