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New Jersey $15 Minimum Wage Amendment (2017)

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New Jersey $15 Minimum Wage Amendment
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Election date
November 7, 2017
Topic
Minimum wage
Status
Not on the ballot
Type
Constitutional amendment		Origin
State legislature

The New Jersey $15 Minimum Wage Amendment did not qualify for the ballot in New Jersey as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 7, 2017.

The measure would have increased the minimum wage to $9 an hour on January 1, 2018, and then by $1 each year until the minimum wage reached $15 an hour on January 1, 2024. In 2025 and following years, the minimum wage would have been increased when there is an increase in the cost of living.[1]

Aftermath

The measure did not make the ballot in 2017. Phil Murphy (D), who was elected governor on November 7, 2017, called for increasing the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour.[2] As of 2017, Paragraph 23 of Article I of the New Jersey Constitution allowed for the state to increase the minimum wage through a legislative statute.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The proposed ballot title was:[1]

“ Do you approve amending the State Constitution to set the State minimum wage rate at $9.00 per hour starting in 2018? The rate will then rise by one dollar each year until it reaches $15.00 in 2024. In 2025 and thereafter, the rate will increase when there is an increase in the cost of living.[3] ”

Ballot summary

The proposed interpretive statement was:[1]

“ This amendment to the State Constitution sets the minimum wage rate at $9.00 per hour in 2018. The rate rises one dollar each year until it is set at $15 per hour in 2024. In 2025 and the years that follow, the rate will increase to reflect increases in the cost of living, as provided by current law.[3] ”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article I, New Jersey Constitution

The proposed measure would have amended Paragraph 23 of Article I of the New Jersey Constitution. The following underlined text would have been added:[1] Note: Hover over the text and scroll to see the full text.

23. Every employer shall, beginning the January 1 next following the date of the approval of this amendment by the people pursuant to Article IX of the Constitution, pay each employee subject to the "New Jersey State Wage and Hour Law," P.L.1966, c.113 (C.34:11-56a et seq.), or a successor State statute, a wage rate of not less than the rate required by that act, or $8.25 per hour, whichever is more. On the September 30 next following the date of the approval of this amendment, and on September 30 of each subsequent year until 2017 and on each subsequent year after 2023, the State minimum wage rate shall be increased, effective the following January 1, by any increase during the one year prior to that September 30 in the consumer price index for all urban wage earners and clerical workers (CPI-W) as calculated by the federal government. The minimum wage rate shall be whichever rate is higher of the rate set by the "New Jersey State Wage and Hour Law," P.L.1966, c.113 (C.34:11-56a et seq.), or a successor State statute, or the rate of $9.00 per hour as of January 1, 2018, to be increased by $1.00 on January 1 of each year until the rate is set at $15.00 per hour on January 1, 2024. If, at any time, the federal minimum hourly wage rate set by section 6 of the federal “Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938" (29 U.S.C. s.206), or a successor federal law, is raised to a level higher than the State minimum wage rate, then the State minimum wage rate shall be increased to the level of the federal minimum wage rate and all subsequent increases based on increases in the CPI-W pursuant to this paragraph shall be applied to the State minimum wage rate as increased to match the federal minimum wage rate. This paragraph shall not be construed as altering or amending any provision of the "New Jersey State Wage and Hour Law," P.L.1966, c.113 (C.34:11-56a et seq.) or a successor State statute, other than the hourly rate set by that act, or prohibiting the Legislature from amending that act. (cf: Art. I, par. 23; added effective December 5, 2013)[3]

Support

Supporters

The following legislators sponsored the amendment in the New Jersey Legislature:[4]

Background

Voting on
Minimum Wage
Wages and pay.jpg
Ballot Measures
By state
By year
Not on ballot

Assembly Bill 15

The Democratic-controlled New Jersey Legislature approved a $15 minimum wage statute, titled Assembly Bill 15, in June 2016. Gov. Chris Christie (R) vetoed the legislation in August 2016.[5] The bill would have increased the state minimum wage to $10.10 per hour on January 1, 2017, and by $1.25 per hour per year thereafter until January 1, 2021. The minimum wage would have been at least $15.10 per hour in 2021.[6]

Gov. Christie explained his veto, arguing:[7]

“ The bottom line is that business owners facing added expenses from this bill in the form of increased payrolls, taxes and supply costs, will be confronted with four options, none of them good: lay off workers or cut back their hours; raise prices; leave New Jersey; or close altogether. Each of these outcomes would be a significant step backward on the road to economic recovery and an affront to all of the accomplishments by New Jersey business owners over the past six-and-a-half years.[3] ”

Analilia Mejia, Director of NJ Working Families Alliance, criticized the veto and called on the legislature to "live up to their commitment to the working families of the state and circumvent this veto by placing a comprehensive measure that raises all families on the ballot."[8] Speaker of the Assembly Vincent Prieto (D-32) and Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D-3) said that their party would seek to place the issue on the ballot.[9]

Minimum wage on the ballot

See also: New Jersey Minimum Wage Increase Amendment, Public Question 2 (2013)

Voters in New Jersey addressed minimum wage on the ballot once in the state's history. In 2013, 61 percent of voters approved Question 2, which increased the state minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 per hour and indexed future increases to changes in the Consumer Price Index.[10] Gov. Chris Christie (R) opposed the amendment.[11] Question 2 was referred to the ballot after the governor vetoed similar legislation increasing the minimum wage.[12]

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the New Jersey Constitution

Proposed constitutional amendments have two ways of achieving ballot access in New Jersey. The New Jersey Legislature could either qualify it with supermajority approval of 60 percent in one legislative session or with simple majorities in two successive sessions. All amendments needed to be referred by August 7, 2017, to appear on the general election ballot in 2017.[13]

The measure was introduced as Senate Concurrent Resolution 1500 on February 11, 2016.[1]

On December 8, 2016, Politico reported that Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto and Senate President Stephen Sweeney, both Democrats, disagreed on whether the amendment to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour should include farm workers and minors. Speaker Prieto wanted a $15 minimum wage amendment to cover all workers, whereas President Sweeney wanted a lower wage of $10.10 for minors and agricultural workers.[14]

In mid-December 2016, Speaker Prieto said the Legislature was not prepared to approve the amendment for the 2017 ballot.[15]

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 New Jersey Legislature, "Senate Concurrent Resolution 1500," accessed November 28, 2016
  2. ↑ Bloomberg, "New Jersey Governor-Elect Murphy Calls for $15 Minimum Wage," November 20, 2017
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "quotedisclaimer" defined multiple times with different content
  4. ↑ New Jersey Legislature, "SCR1500 Overview," accessed November 28, 2016
  5. ↑ New York Times, "Christie Vetoes Minimum Wage Bill, Calling Raise to $15 ‘Really Radical’," August 30, 2016
  6. ↑ New Jersey Legislature, "Assembly Bill 15," accessed November 28, 2016
  7. ↑ New Jersey Legislature, "Assembly Bill 15 Veto," accessed November 28, 2016
  8. ↑ NJ.com, "Christie vetoes $15 an hour minimum wage bill pushed by N.J. Democrats," August 30, 2016
  9. ↑ NJ.com, "N.J. Democrats vow to fight Christie's $15 minimum wage veto," August 30, 2016
  10. ↑ New Jersey Legislature, "Senate Concurrent Resolution 1," accessed November 28, 2016
  11. ↑ North Jersey.com, "New Jersey minimum wage ballot fight heats up," September 29, 2013
  12. ↑ Reuters, "New Jersey governor vetoes minimum wage hike, suggests options," January 28, 2013
  13. ↑ New Jersey Department of State, "2017 General Election Timeline," accessed December 6, 2016
  14. ↑ Politico, "$15 minimum wage ballot question nearly dead amid Democratic infighting," December 8, 2016
  15. ↑ NJ.com, "$15 minimum wage hike proposal dead until 2018, Speaker says," December 17, 2016
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