skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Local Minimum-Wage Bill Faces Uphill Battle in CO Senate

play audio
Play

Wednesday, May 2, 2018   

DENVER - Even with this year's increase in Colorado's minimum wage, now at $10.20 an hour, workers in ski-resort counties and cities such as Boulder continue to struggle. On Thursday, a state Senate committee is scheduled to hear a bill that would allow municipalities to set their own minimum wages.

Jack Strauss, chair of applied economics at the University of Denver's business school, said western states including Arizona, California, New Mexico and Washington have allowed for a variety of wage floors because in terms of pay, one size doesn't fit all.

"Because the cost of living differs throughout a state," he said, "it makes sense to have a higher minimum wage in regions or cities that are more expensive."

In 1999, Colorado passed a law prohibiting local governments from setting their own minimum wage, and more than a dozen states now have similar pre-emptive laws. Opponents have said allowing a patchwork of wage floors across the state would lead to job loss, and businesses would have to pass higher costs on to consumers.

However, analysis by the Center for Economic and Policy Research found that businesses end up saving money after minimum-wage hikes, and that their training costs go down because workers stay on the job longer and take on more responsibility.

When companies don't pay a living wage, Strauss said, taxpayers end up footing the bill as workers turn to public assistance to get by.

"Yes, we may be paying two pennies more for a McDonald's meal," he said, "but at the same time, we can be satisfied that workers in the store are not going to be living off of food stamps."

House Bill 1380 passed the Democrat-controlled House last week along strict party lines. The bill was assigned to the Senate State, Veterans, and Military Affairs, popularly known as the body's "kill committee." The text of the bill is online at leg.colorado.gov.

The CEPR study is at cepr.net.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021