Milwaukee County $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)

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A Milwaukee County $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question ballot measure was on the November 4, 2014 election ballot for voters in Milwaukee 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.

Supervisor Khalif Rainey introduced the resolution calling for this advisory question, and it was approved by the county board of supervisors on June 26, 2014, in a 13-4 vote.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele urged supervisors to vote against the resolution to put this measure on the ballot, but he was ignored. Abele did not argue for either a "yes" or "no" vote on the actual referendum question, but simply said that putting an advisory question on the county ballot was a waste of time, money and elections office resources.

Election results

Milwaukee County $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question
Result		Votes	Percentage
a Yes		221,749	67.50%
No		106,790	32.50%

Election results via: Milwaukee County Election Commission

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.

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.”

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.”

In 2005, a group of state representatives introduced Assembly Bill 49. 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. 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.

Text of measure

Ballot question

The question on the ballot was:

“

Should the State of Wisconsin increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour?

”

Full text

The full text of the county resolution was:

“	File No. 14-522 A RESOLUTION Supporting an advisory referendum question on the November 2014 ballot asking if Milwaukee County voters support increasing the State minimum wage to $10.10 an hour WHEREAS, the challenge of income inequality defines our times, as noted by figures ranging from Pope Francis to President Obama; and WHEREAS, average wage levels for American workers have been stagnant for decades and wage levels for the lowest-paid workers declined, while economists predict that by the year 2020, nearly half of all employment in America will be found in low-wage sector jobs that do not pay a living wage; and WHEREAS, the current minimum wage in Wisconsin is $7.25 an hour and a person making minimum wage, working forty hours a week, earns only $290 per week or $15,080 a year, but the current Federal Poverty Level Guideline for a family of four is $23,850; and WHEREAS, in Milwaukee County the current monthly costs for a family with one parent and one child, calculated by the Economic Policy Institute, is $51,695 annually, and includes only items to ensure a secure, yet modest living standard, including such basic necessities as health care and child care; and WHEREAS, the annual report from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty, found that many of the jobs being created do not pay a living wage and in Milwaukee County the poverty level rose from 17.8 percent in 2011 to 18.8 percent in 2012; and WHEREAS, according to the United States Census Bureau, in 2012 the state poverty rate was 13.2 percent while in Milwaukee County the rate was much higher at 22.3 percent and even more disturbingly the child poverty rate in Milwaukee County was 32.4 percent; and WHEREAS, had the minimum wage increased with inflation since 1968, it would be nearly $11 per hour today, and had it grown with increases in productivity, or the ability of our economy to generate greater wealth, it would be roughly $20 per hour; and WHEREAS, as of January 1, 2014, twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have minimum wage rates above the federally mandated minimum wage, while dozens of states and cities are considering increasing their minimum wage rate to $10.10 per hour, $11.50 per hour, $12.25 per hour, and as high as $15 per hour, and some states and cities already have done so since the start of the calendar year; and WHEREAS, the minimum wage sets a basic standard for income from work, setting public policy in line with the basic values that anyone who works should be able to support themselves and their families without being forced to rely on public assistance programs, and that business profits should not rely upon public subsidies for firms that pay workers poverty-level wages; and WHEREAS, as reported by the Economic Policy Institute, more than 600 economists, including Nobel laureates, signed a letter to the President and other political figures stating that there is little to no effect on joblessness of minimum wage workers when the minimum wage is raised, and in fact, many times there is a small stimulative effect on the economy as low-wage earners go out and spend their extra earnings on every day necessities; and WHEREAS, on March 20, 2014, the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors adopted Resolution File No. 13-955 (Vote 12-6), a living wage ordinance requiring many businesses contracting with Milwaukee County to pay a minimum hourly wage rate equal to 100 percent of the poverty income level for a family of four, currently $11.47 an hour; and WHEREAS, Milwaukee County voters should have the opportunity to be heard on whether they support raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour; now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED, by the County Board of Supervisors of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, as follows: Section 1. Referendum Election. The County Clerk is hereby directed to call an advisory referendum election to be held in the County at the regularly scheduled election to be held on November 4, 2014, for the purpose of submitting to the qualified electors of the County the proposition of whether the State of Wisconsin should raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour. The referendum shall be held, noticed, and conducted following the procedures set forth in Section 59.52(25) of the Wisconsin Statutes. Section 2. Official Referendum Ballot Form. The ballot to be used at the referendum election shall be prepared in accordance with the provisions of Sections 5.64(2) and 7.08(1)(a) of the Wisconsin Statutes. The ballot shall be substantially in the form attached hereto as Exhibit A. (above)	”
—By Milwaukee County Supervisors Rainey and Dimitrijevic

Support

Supporters

Raise Wisconsin logo

Raise Wisconsin was the main group orchestrating the many local efforts to request the state to raise the minimum wage.

Wisconsin Jobs Now also supported the effort to pressure the state legislature to raise the minimum wage.

United Wisconsin also backed the effort.

The resolution was introduced by Milwaukee County Supervisor Khalif Rainey and co-authored by Supervisor Marina Dimitrijevic.

Arguments in favor

Supervisor Rainey said, "Voters need to be able to express themselves on this issue. An advisory referendum, which I believe would pass easily, would put pressure on state lawmakers who have been dragging their feet on this issue. There are too many people working full time and making a minimum wage that cannot support them or their families."

Peter Rickman, the Campaign Director for Raise Wisconsin, said, “It’s time to raise the wage so that we can raise our economy and raise Wisconsin. Working people in our state need a raise, and we will win the higher wages necessary to address staggering income inequality, to increase economic opportunity, and to improve living standards.”

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.”

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.

Opposition

Kenosha Supervisor Erin Decker said that the referendum could simply be an effort to sway the fall election against Gov. Scott Walker (R). Decker said, “There is an organized effort to put this on the ballot statewide, mostly in counties that they hope to turn out one side of the aisle to vote, so they vote against the current governor."

Path to the ballot

Supervisor Khalif Rainey introduced the resolution calling for this referendum question on June 12, 2014.

Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele urged supervisors to vote against the resolution to put this measure on the ballot. On June 26, 2014, the board voted 13-4 in favor of the resolution.

Similar measures

Related measures

Other Raise Wisconsin measures:

a City of Neenah $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)
a City of Menasha $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)
a City of Appleton $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)
a Milwaukee County $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)
a Kenosha County $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)
a Eau Claire County $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)
a Dane County $10.10 Per Hour State Minimum Wage Advisory Question (November 2014)

Local

a City of Oakland Minimum Wage Increase Initiative, Measure FF (November 2014)
a City of San Francisco Minimum Wage Increase Referred Measure, Proposition J (November 2014)
d City of Eureka "Fair Wage Act" Minimum Wage Initiative, Measure R (November 2014)
a 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)
a Philadelphia Minimum Wage Ordinance, Proposition 1 (May 2014)
a City of Chicago $15 Per Hour Minimum Wage Referendum (March 2014)
a SeaTac "Good Jobs Initiative", Proposition 1 (November 2013)
City of Richmond Minimum Wage Increase Ballot Question (November 2014)

Statewide

a Alaska Minimum Wage Increase, Ballot Measure 3 (2014)
a Arkansas Minimum Wage Initiative (2014)
a 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
• Milwaukee County, Wisconsin ballot measures
• November 4, 2014 ballot measures in Wisconsin

External links

Suggest a link

• Citizen Action Wisconsin website
• Raise Wisconsin website