Another day, another House Republican supermajority rejection of a minimum wage hike

INDIANAPOLIS – Yet again in the 2015 session of the Indiana General Assembly, Indiana House Republicans have rejected an effort to increase the state’s minimum wage and lift up Hoosier families, according to House Democratic Leader Scott Pelath from Michigan City.

The House supermajority today rejected an amendment offered by Pelath that would have ensured that any Hoosier receiving a taxable income in Indiana could not be paid less than $10.10 an hour. Pelath’s proposal was offered to House Bill 1349.

“While it may seem like we are beating our heads against the wall with these constant efforts to improve the lives of millions of Hoosiers, it is important that the people of Indiana know that someone feels their interests are worth protecting this session,” Pelath said.

“Our continued failure to do anything to help restore our middle class has become noticeable in many different ways,” he continued. “The most recent revenue figures issued by the state of Indiana showed a shocking drop in individual income collections in January of this year. This has not been an isolated trend, for those who have been paying attention.

“What we continue to see is a complete disregard for the decreases in average household incomes that have taken place for more than a decade,” Pelath said. “Rather than do something about it, our state leaders talk about creating jobs, but do nothing to ensure those jobs pay decent wages and salaries. Not only do they reject increases in the minimum wage, but they also avidly pursue proposals like the abolition of the common construction wage, which will prove to drive salaries down for more working Hoosiers.”

Today’s rejection marks the fourth time this session that the House supermajority has turned aside efforts to address the issue of paying living wages to workers across Indiana.

Pelath asked representatives to pass a plan that would have enabled the state Department of Labor to set a minimum wage rate based on the average rate in those states that have a minimum wage above the federal rate of $7.25 per hour. State Rep. John Bartlett (D-Indianapolis) sought to have a non-binding referendum placed on the 2016 statewide ballot to ask whether the people of Indiana would support a minimum wage increase.

Earlier today, State Rep. Gregory W. Porter (D-Indianapolis) asked that the state’s Commission on State Tax and Financing Policy study the impact of increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour in July 2016.

In all four instances, the House supermajority did not offer a single vote in support of increasing the minimum wage.

“As we move along this session, it may seem to the people of Indiana that we are doing nothing to improve wage and salary growth in our state, but the fact of the matter is that there is only group dead set against empowering our workers,” Pelath said. “However, Republican intransigence will not keep Indiana House Democrats from continuing to fight for our middle class.”