Gov. Phil Murphy signed legislation Monday that will gradually raise New Jersey’s minimum wage to $15 an hour for most workers by 2024, making it the fourth state to approve a policy that not long ago was considered a pipe dream in Democratic circles.
“It is a great day to make history for New Jersey’s working families,” Murphy said in an auditorium in Elizabeth that was bursting with supporters and had the feel of a pep rally. “We’ve talked long enough about putting New Jersey on a responsible path to raising the minimum wage. Today we start on this path.”
This bill signing culminates more than a year of negotiations and is a major victory for Murphy and the state’s Democrat-controlled Legislature. It also puts New Jersey on a growing list of blue states — California, Massachusetts and New York, as well as the District of Columbia — that have authorized such a jump in the minimum wage.
The new law will boost the state’s hourly pay for most low-wage workers to $15 by Jan. 1, 2024. Murphy estimated that by that year, minimum wage workers in New Jersey will be making, cumulatively, $13,000 more a year than they are making now.
Under the new law, the current $8.85 statewide minimum wage will rise to $10 an hour on July 1, 2019, and to $11 an hour on Jan. 1, 2020. It would then increase by $1 an hour every Jan. 1 until reaching $15 on Jan. 1, 2024.
Some sectors of the workforce, like farmworkers, seasonal workers and employees at small businesses, will have to wait longer to reach the $15 threshold. The bill also raises the tipped wage from $2.13 an hour to $5.13 an hour. Under the law, workers must make the minimum wage when tips are included, otherwise the employer has to make up the difference.
“Together we are making New Jersey a national model for the responsible, progressive economic policies that our country needs,” Murphy said to thunderous applause from union workers, activists and elected officials. “In New Jersey, we have won the fight for 15, but we will never stop fighting for fairness for all of our working families.”
Soon after Murphy was elected governor, he and top Democratic lawmakers made raising the minimum wage to $15 a top legislative priority. Boosting the minimum wage had been a years-long dream of Democrats, but never advanced under Republican Gov. Chris Christie. But once Christie left office and was replaced by a Democrat, the higher minimum wage was a policy that seemed easily within reach.
But it wasn’t such a clean shot. Negotiations dragged on for a year, as Murphy and the Legislature disagreed on many of the policy details. Behind the scenes, the relationship between Murphy and Senate President Steve Sweeney was also souring. Sweeney alluded to the fraught relationship on Monday, and credited Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin with helping to navigate the differences.
“This is one of the biggest moments I’ve ever had in the Legislature,” said Sweeney. “This gives people who work everyday a better quality of life.”
Coughlin said the negotiations took months of meetings with advocates and opponents, and several proposals before an agreement was finally reached.
“Together we did it,” he said. “Today we have a bill that is balanced, that is fair to everybody.”
Once a deal was reached, the bill quickly made it through the Legislature, with both chambers giving final approval on Thursday.
Not all workers will reach $15 at the same time.
For seasonal workers and employees at businesses of five workers or fewer, the minimum wage will reach $15 by Jan. 1, 2026. By Jan. 1, 2028, these exempt groups will earn the same wage as the nonexempt groups, including adjustments that were made for inflation.
Farmworkers will see their base minimum wage rise to $12.50 an hour by Jan. 1, 2024. At that point, the state labor commissioner and secretary of agriculture will jointly decide whether to recommend that the wage increase to $15 an hour by 2027. If they cannot come to an agreement, a third member will break the tie.
If there is a recommendation to disapprove of the scheduled increases or suggest an alternative pathway, the Legislature must implement that by passing a concurrent resolution.
Analilia Mejia, executive director of New Jersey Working Families, said even though the new law will put nearly 1 million New Jersey workers on a path to the middle-class, there is still work to be done, particularly for increasing wages for agricultural and tipped workers.
Within moments of Murphy signing the bill, business groups and Republicans sent out statements condemning the new law, saying it will force layoffs, cause prices to increase and lead to closures of small businesses.
“This law will have disastrous consequences for our business community and minimum wage workers. It simply goes too far too fast,” said Sen. Declan O’Scanlon (R-Monmouth).
Michele Siekerka, president and CEO of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, said the higher wage “will result in a 35 percent cost increase to New Jersey’s small businesses, when including the increased wage and payroll taxes, within just 11 months.“
After the signing, Sweeney insisted the bill ended up being stronger than originally proposed because Democratic lawmakers ultimately met in the middle.
“This got done because we all compromised,” he said. “Once we were willing to open our eyes and really listen, we came up with a much better bill.“
Sam Sutton contributed to this report
Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine
Source: https://www.politico.com/states/new-jersey/story/2019/02/04/murphy-signs-law-to-boost-new-jersey-minimum-wage-to-15-836467
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The Article Was Written/Published By: klandergan@politico.com (Katherine Landergan)
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