Massachusetts $15 Minimum Wage by 2019 Initiative (2018)
| Massachusetts $15 Minimum Wage by 2019 Initiative | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Election date November 6, 2018 | |
| Topic Minimum wage | |
| Status Not on the ballot | |
| Type State statute | Origin Citizens |
The Massachusetts $15 Minimum Wage by 2019 Initiative was not on the ballot in Massachusetts as an indirect initiated state statute on November 6, 2018.
The measure would have increased the minimum wage from $11.00 an hour to $15 an hour on January 1, 2019. The measure would have also increased the minimum wage for tipped employees from $3.75 an hour to $5.30 an hour on January 1, 2019. In each year thereafter, the minimum wage and tipped minimum wage would have been adjusted for increases in the Consumer Price Index.[1]
Although this version of a minimum wage increase initiative did not qualify for the ballot, signatures were submitted for another version (#17-17), which was designed to increase the state's minimum wage to $15 per hour by January 2022.
Text of measure
Full text
The full text of the measure is available here.
Path to the ballot
In Massachusetts, the number of signatures required to place an indirect initiated state statute on the ballot is equal to 3.5 percent of votes cast for governor in the most recent gubernatorial election. The first 3 percent is collected in order to refer the indirect initiative to the Massachusetts General Court. If members of the General Court pass and the governor signs the initiative, then the initiative becomes law. If the legislature declines to act on an initiative or the governor vetoes it, sponsors of the initiative need to collect additional signatures equal to 0.5 percent of the votes cast for governor.
To make the 2018 ballot, sponsors of this initiative needed to collect the first round of 64,750 signatures between September 20, 2017, and November 22, 2017. Petitioners did not submit signatures for the initiative to the office of the secretary of the commonwealth by the deadline on December 6, 2017. If signatures had been submitted, and the General Court had rejected or not acted on the initiative by May 2, 2018, then an additional 10,792 signatures would have been required by July 4, 2018.
On September 6, 2017, Attorney General Maura Healey (D) rejected the proposal as not being in proper form.[2] Therefore, proponents of the measure could not collect signatures to get the initiative on the ballot.
See also
Footnotes
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