All tagged State House of Representatives
While House Speaker Scott Saiki and his leadership faction will claim the credit, this group has actually been the greatest impediment to increasing the minimum wage and denying workers a pay increase over the past four years.
Working families and our economy have been suffering for decades with wages that fail to come close to a livable standard. Fortunately both chambers are finally acting like this deficit needs to be closed. We need them to stand by their promises to workers and our economy, and finally push this bill over the finish line and on to the governor’s desk.
Our representatives need to give us some hope that we can prosper here. That our keiki can prosper here. Raise the minimum wage.
House leaders are resisting union pressure to revive bills this year that would raise the minimum wage and exempt jobless benefits from state income taxes.
Unemployment insurance benefits should be exempt from Hawaiʻi income tax, but a Senate bill calling for that has unfortunately stalled.
Raising the minimum wage to a living wage has been a top priority for the Democratic Party of Hawaiʻi for years.
How can legislators justify giving themselves a raise when they refuse to hold hearings on increasing the minimum wage?
For three straight legislative sessions, 2018–20, Saiki and the Hawaiʻi State House of Representatives have betrayed the Democratic Party’s commitment to a $15+ minimum wage.
A bill that stalled in the last days of the 2019 session carries over to the assembly that convenes in January, giving state lawmakers an opportunity to secure minimum wage legislation early in the 2020 session.
