Minimum Wage Increase Bill Passes In PA Senate

HARRISBURG, PA — The Pennsylvania Senate on Wednesday passed a bill to increase the state's minimum wage for the first time in more than a decade. The bill now moves to the House.

Pennsylvania's minimum wage is currently set at the federal minimum of $7.25. The bill would increase the state's minimum wage by $2.25 over the next three years. Under the proposal, the minimum wage would go up to $8 an hour on July 1, 2020, $8.50 on Jan. 1, 2021, $9 on July 1, 2021, and $9.50 on Jan. 1, 2022.

The increase would impact approximately 385,000 low-wage workers, according to the bill's sponsor, Democrat Sen. Christine Tartaglione.

Tartaglione, in comments following the vote, said the increase is not enough.

“While this is not the bill that I have been fighting for, or the bill that Pennsylvania’s low-wage workers have been fighting for, it is important that we do everything we can right now to help people put food on their tables, put a roof over their heads, and educate their children," Tartaglione said.

In March, she introduced Senate Bill 12, which would raise the minimum wage to $12 this year and to $15 by 2025. That bill is awaiting action in the Senate Labor & Industry Committee.

The last time lawmakers in Pennsylvania voted to increase the minimum wage was in 2006. In 2009, the wage rose to $7.25 in accordance with federal law.

A minimum wage increase is supported by Gov. Tom Wolf, although he too has been vocal about backing the more aggressive plan to increase up to $15 by 2025.