A clash of wills and philosophies among state lawmakers over how to raise Hawaii’s minimum wage now appears centered on one bill at the Legislature instead of two.
The Senate Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts on Monday amended a bill first introduced and passed in the House so that the measure now closely resembles the Senate’s minimum wage bill calling for a shorter and quicker acceleration in the hourly minimum to $18 from the current $10.10.
Meanwhile, it looks as though House leaders don’t intend to keep the Senate minimum wage bill in play, by letting a procedural deadline today for advancing the bill lapse.
The jostling further sets up what is anticipated to be an ultimate negotiation by House and Senate leaders to compromise later in the legislative session, which ends May 5.
Senators took a more aggressive approach to realize a shared stated goal by legislative leaders this year to raise Hawaii’s minimum wage, which was last increased in 2018 under legislation passed in 2014 after an 11th-hour compromise.
Senate Bill 2018 proposed to boost the hourly minimum to $12 on Oct. 1, then to $15 on Jan. 1, 2024, and finally $18 in 2026. Two Senate committees speedily advanced the bill, followed by a 24-1 floor vote in January.
House members created a comparatively elaborate bill that included more step-ups in the hourly minimum to reach $18 in 2030, changes to several tax credits and a rising tip credit under which employees who receive tips can be paid less than the minimum wage in certain instances.
That measure, House Bill 2510, got tweaked March 3 by the House Finance Committee to closer align with the Senate bill. The amended House draft boosted the hourly minimum in six steps instead of eight to reach $18 two years earlier, or 2028. The full House voted 42-8 on March 8 to send that version of HB 2510 to the Senate for consideration.
On Monday the Senate committee chaired by Sen. Brian Taniguchi (D, Makiki-Tantalus-Manoa) replaced the schedule of increases in HB 2510 with the three steps previously endorsed by all but one senator.
The committee, in a 5-0 vote, did leave a tip credit provision in the bill, though it was amended so that the credit of 75 cents decreases to 35 cents Oct. 1 and then goes away Jan. 1, 2026.
Another amendment deletes a provision to make the state’s earned income tax credit permanent. A separate bill still pending could deliver such a change to the tax credit.
As has been the case for both minimum wage bills earlier, a ton of public testimony was submitted for Monday’s hearing: 190 pages of written comments.
Generally, advocates for low-wage workers prefer the faster track backed by senators, while employers and industry representatives find the House goal more palatable.
“The bottom line is we simply cannot go on paying people who are working 40 hours a week less than what they need to afford the very basics — food and shelter,” Gavin Thornton, executive director of the Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, said at Monday’s hearing.
At the current minimum wage, a full-time worker would earn $21,008 a year.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” Thornton continued. “We can’t do it anymore. We can’t just maybe snap our fingers and switch it right away, but what we can do is provide an immediate significant increase followed by multiple increases afterwards to get that minimum wage closer to a real living wage. It’s not going to get us all the way there, but it’s super important that we move and move quickly. People have been waiting for four years since the last bump, (and there’s been) huge inflation since then.”
Tina Yamaki, president of trade association Retail Merchants of Hawaii, told the committee the members she represents generally like the original House bill better, although $18 is too high.
“The increase is a little slower,” she said. “And we’re also asking that it stop at $15. … Especially our smaller local businesses that are like only one shop, a couple shops here in Hawaii, they are going to die if it goes above $15. They’re having a hard time already. We also want to bring up again that the minimum wage was never intended as a living wage. It’s always a starting wage.”
HB 2510 is now in line to be heard by the Senate Ways and Means Committee. From there it could receive a vote by all senators that puts the measure back before House members to consider.
