Bills increasing Hawaiʻi’s minimum wage, decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, enacting all-mail elections statewide and requiring the state to license midwives advanced at the legislature on Tuesday.

Senators unanimously approved House Bill 1191  to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2023 and to $17 an hour for full-time workers employed by the state. It would also provide an income tax credit to help small businesses impacted by the wage hike.

Senator Russell Ruderman, a Big Island businessman, told his colleagues that he hoped the wage would grow even higher.

The issue is now headed for conference committee, because the House passed another minimum wage bill with no details as to how much and when it would increase.

A previous version of Senate Bill 789 would have raised the wage to $15 an hour by 2024. But the version the House passed now has blank dollar amounts.

The new version also creates a separate schedule of minimum wage increases for employers that are not required to provide health coverage for part-time workers but still do. But those dollar amounts are blank as well.

The bill also bans employers from paying people with disabilities less than the minimum wage.

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