New York took a step toward a $15 minimum wage on Friday after the State Senate nearly unanimously passed an agreed-upon budget measure.
The move, which follows an agreement on the budget between legislative leaders and Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced late on Thursday, was approved in a 61-1 vote. Some large companies in New York City would pay their workers at least $15 an hour as soon as 2019.
“Nobody will ever have to choose between what their heart tells them to do and what their bank account tells them to do,” Jeffrey Klein, the New York State Senate’s Independent Democratic caucus leader, said in a statement.
Republicans control the 62-person chamber. The New York State Assembly was expected to consider the measure on Friday.
The New York measure closely followed a deal in California among the state’s political leaders to raise the minimum wage to $15. The dual deals continue nationwide momentum behind a dramatic increase in the base wage paid to workers.
Surveys have long shown broad support for an increase in the minimum wage. Fifty-nine percent of Americans support a $15 minimum wage, according to a survey by the Public Religion Research Institute. Only 32 percent of Republicans support a $15 minimum, but 58 percent of independent voters and 84 percent of Democrats support such an increase.
The New York increase would start in New York City and then spread to the rest of the state.
Large employers would be required to gradually increase the minimum wage they pay workers through 2018. The wage would reach $15 on Dec. 31, 2018.
Small businesses with 10 workers or fewer would have another year to get to $15. In Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties, near New York City, the minimum wage would reach $15 on Dec. 31, 2021.
For the rest of the state, the wage would increase to $12.50 on Dec. 31, 2020, when it would increase at an agreed-upon schedule set by the state.
The agreement includes a “safety valve” in which the state’s budget division director will analyze the impact of the increase on the economy in each region beginning in 2019. The increases could be suspended if necessary.
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