City of Neenah $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)
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A City of Neenah $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question ballot measure was on the November 4, 2014 election ballot for voters in the city of Neenah in Winnebago County, Wisconsin. It was approved.
The measure enacted a county resolution calling for the state to increase the statewide minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. This advisory referendum question, which had no direct legislative effect, was put on the ballot in a cooperative effort with several other counties and cities. The group behind the request to state lawmakers was called Raise Wisconsin, and their petition to the state was featured on November election ballots due to petition drives in some cases and direct legislative resolutions from county boards of supervisors in others. In the case of Neenah, the question was put on the ballot through a successful initiative petition.[1]
Election results
| City of Neenah $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Votes | Percentage | ||
 Yes | 6,092 | 60.20% | ||
| No | 4,028 | 39.80% | ||
Election results via: Neenah City Clerk's Office
Background
Due to 2005 Assembly Bill 49, which prohibited local government agencies from enacting a minimum wage different from the state minimum wage, the counties and cities that participated in the Raise Wisconsin referendum cannot directly enact a higher wage requirement. This leaves the advisory referendum, which would serve to urge state lawmakers to boost the compensation of low-wage workers, as the only opportunity to impact the issue through local ballots. At the time of the November 2014 election, the state minimum wage was $7.25 per hour.[2][3]
History of AB 49
On March 30, 2004, Madison, Wisconsin, enacted a minimum wage ordinance to increase the city's hourly wage to $7.75 by 2008. In 2004, the federal and state hourly minimum wages were $5.15. The Madison Common Council highlighted the city's high cost of living versus other parts of the state and country. They argued that state and federal minimum wages “were inadequate to allow workers to meet their family’s basic needs.” Madison utilized “statutory home rule” to increase the minimum wage. Statutory home rule permitted the city to enact legislation “for the government and good order of the city, for its commercial benefit, and for the health, safety, and welfare of the public.”[4]
An organization called Main Street Coalition for Economic Growth, Inc. sued Madison in the Dane County Circuit Court, arguing that the ordinance was beyond the scope of municipal power. Judge Maryann Sumi denied the injunction, saying the city’s minimum-wage ordinance was “a valid exercise of municipal home-rule power.”[4]
In 2005, a group of state representatives introduced Assembly Bill 49.[5] AB 49 was approved and provided that “[a] city, village, town, or county may not enact and administer an ordinance establishing a living wage” unless that ordinance adheres to state minimum wage laws. Moreover, it voided any local minimum wage ordinance already in effect.[6] Governor Jim Doyle (D) signed the bill in exchange for an increase in the statewide minimum wage to $6.50. Therefore, Madison's minimum wage ordinance was invalidated.[4]
Text of measure
Ballot question
The question on the ballot was:[7]
| “ |
Should the State of Wisconsin increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour?[8] |
” |
Support
Raise Wisconsin was the main group orchestrating the many local efforts to request the state to raise the minimum wage.[9]
Wisconsin Jobs Now also supported the effort to pressure the state legislature to raise the minimum wage.[10]
United Wisconsin also backed the effort.[11]
Arguments in favor
Jennifer Epps-Addison, Executive Director of Wisconsin Jobs Now, said, “For too long, our communities have needed more economic opportunity and security. Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 is a critical first step to transform the low-wage jobs of today into family-supporting jobs that can build a new middle class for Milwaukee’s future.”[10]
Kevin Kane, the Lead Organizer for Citizen Action of Wisconsin, pointed out that Wisconsin, at the time of the referendum, was surrounded by states with a higher minimum wage, but the state's job market, as well as the economy generally, was lagging. Kane said the issue was that there was not enough purchasing power to boost the economy and provide for thriving businesses. The goal of activists seeking a higher minimum wage was to put more money in the hands of Wisconsinites, allowing them to spend more at local businesses. According to the Raise Wisconsin website, increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour would inject over $517 million into the Wisconsin economy and would generate 3,800 new jobs to meet the demand from the surge in the economy.[12][13]
Path to the ballot
Raise Wisconsin supporters had to collect 1,404 valid signatures in Neenah to qualify this referendum for the ballot. Petitioners turned in 1,853, and the city clerk certified that the petition was sufficient.[14][15]
Similar measures
Related measures
Other Raise Wisconsin measures:
City of Neenah $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)
City of Menasha $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)
City of Appleton $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)
Milwaukee County $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)
Kenosha County $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)
Eau Claire County $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)
Dane County $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)
Local
City of Oakland Minimum Wage Increase Initiative, Measure FF (November 2014)
City of San Francisco Minimum Wage Increase Referred Measure, Proposition J (November 2014)
City of Eureka "Fair Wage Act" Minimum Wage Initiative, Measure R (November 2014)
Raise Wisconsin minimum wage increase advisory referendums
City of San Diego $12 per Hour Minimum Wage Initiative (November 2014)
City of San Diego $13.09 per Hour Minimum Wage Measure (November 2014)
City of Las Cruces Minimum Wage Increase Initiative (November 2014)
Washington D.C. Minimum Wage Initiative (November 2014)
City of Seattle $15 Per Hour Minimum Wage Increase Veto Referendum (November 2014)
City of Seattle $15 Per Hour Minimum Wage Initiative (November 2014)
City of San Francisco Minimum Wage Act of 2014 Initiative (November 2014)
Philadelphia Minimum Wage Ordinance, Proposition 1 (May 2014)
City of Chicago $15 Per Hour Minimum Wage Referendum (March 2014)
SeaTac "Good Jobs Initiative", Proposition 1 (November 2013)
City of Richmond Minimum Wage Increase Ballot Question (November 2014)
Statewide
Alaska Minimum Wage Increase, Ballot Measure 3 (2014)
Arkansas Minimum Wage Initiative (2014)
South Dakota Increased Minimum Wage, Initiated Measure 18 (2014)
California Minimum Wage Supplement for Home Health Workers (2014)
Idaho Minimum Wage Initiative (2014)
Massachusetts Minimum Wage Increase Initiative (2014)
Michigan Minimum Wage Initiative (2014)
Missouri Minimum Wage Initiative (2014)
New Mexico Minimum Wage Amendment (2014)
See also
- Local wages and pay on the ballot
- Winnebago County, Wisconsin ballot measures
- November 4, 2014 ballot measures in Wisconsin
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Wisconsin Election Watch, "Voters to see medicaid, minimum wage referendums on November ballot," June 30, 2014
- ↑ BizTimes, "MADISON – Several Wisconsin counties to hold minimum wage advisory referendums," June 27, 2014
- ↑ Wisconsin Legislature website, "2005 Assembly Bill 49," accessed July 8, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Burchill, K. 2007. "Madison’s Minimum-Wage Ordinance, Section 104.001, and the Future of Home Rule in Wisconsin." Wisconsin Law Review 1: 151-199
- ↑ Wisconsin Legislature, "2005 Assembly Bill 49 History," accessed June 30, 2014
- ↑ Wisconsin Legislature, "2005 Assembly Bill 49 Text," accessed June 30, 2014
- ↑ Kenosha County Government website, "Minimum Wage Referendum Resolution," archived July 9, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Raise Wisconsin website, accessed July 8, 2014
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Fox 6 News, "“Raise the minimum wage:” County Board votes to place referendum on the November ballot," June 26, 2014
- ↑ United Wisconsin website, accessed July 8, 2014
- ↑ Ballotpedia staff writer Josh Altic, "Phone interview with Kevin Kane, Lead Organizer of Citizen Action of Wisconsin," July 8, 2014
- ↑ Raise Wisconsin website, "Facts and Figures," accessed July 8, 2014
- ↑ Post Crescent, "Fox Cities residents push for higher minimum wage," July 4, 2014
- ↑ NBC News, "Neenah Minimum Wage," June 24, 2014
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