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Public Hearing on Minimum Wage Initiative Set for Next Week

A citizen initiative has proposed increasing Nebraska’s minimum wage to $9 an hour over a two-year period.

Senator Jeremy Nordquist supports the increase and says Nebraska workers need a raise to help pay for the basics like food, housing and transportation. 

He says the current minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and has been sitting at that rate for five years.  If the initiative passes, the state’s minimum wage would increase to $8 an hour on January 1, 2015 and then to $9 an hour January 1, 2016. 

Nordquist says the modest increase is not only good for the workers but also for the economy.

"We’ve seen evidence from 13 states that raised their minimum wage just this year.  Those 13 states have faster job growth than all the other states and that’s because their low wage workers are taking home a little bit more in their paycheck and they’re turning around and putting that money right back into the economy.”

Nordquist says the state with highest minimum wage, Washington State, had the fastest small business job growth in the last year of all 50 states. 

Doug Kagan, President of Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom, says if the ballot initiative passes, Nebraska would have one of the 10 highest minimum wage rates.  He says this would be something that could influence business owners to locate elsewhere.

"If they’re looking to expand their businesses and looking for states in which to locate subsidiaries, they would look at states with a lower minimum wage.  Also, businesses that have franchises here and are looking to expand would probably not expand here because it wouldn’t be as economical.”

A public hearing will be held on the minimum wage initiative on Wednesday, October 15th at 6:30 p.m. in the OPS Administration Board Room, 3215 Cuming Street. 

For details on the initiative, call the Secretary of State’s Office at 402-471-2555.