DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Gov. Terry Branstad has called for a single statewide minimum wage rather than a hodgepodge of wages that vary by county, and a new Republican majority in the Legislature could give him a clear path to enact such uniform pay rates.
That worries some supporters of higher minimum wages who fear the state could couple an insignificant wage increase with a ban on local jurisdictions approving their own higher wages, as four counties have already done.
Iowa’s minimum wage has been stuck at a $7.25 minimum since 2009, making it less than all of its neighbors except Wisconsin. In the past year, Johnson, Linn, Wapello and Polk counties have approved gradually increased minimums that will top out at different rates, from $10.10 to $10.75.
County officials made the move after years of inaction by the Legislature, and now they say they’re keeping an eye on the upcoming session for a so-called pre-emption law, which has popped up in other states.
Linn County Supervisor Ben Rogers, who supported an increase in the county’s minimum wage to $10.25 an hour by 2019, said he doesn’t want local control to be taken away if a “meaningful” statewide minimum wage increase is not on the table. He noted a small statewide rate increase without a clear system for scheduled raises would be problematic for urban areas.
“A wage rate may need to be different in Linn County than it does in a small rural county,” Rogers said. “The cost of living is different. Their needs are different.”
In Polk County, which includes Des Moines, Supervisor Tom Hockensmith said that after officials approved a minimum wage increase that reaches 10.75 by January 2019, it would be frustrating to see the state impose a lower wage and remove control from local officials.
“To have all that just wiped out is very discouraging to say the least,” he said.
Ben Hammes, a spokesman for Branstad, said the governor believes there may be language in Iowa code that already prohibits counties from setting their own minimum wage. The governor is in favor of action that would clarify those rules and it might not require legislative action.
Hammes added that Branstad has not committed to any minimum wage increase. He didn’t address what should happen to those counties that already have approved a higher wage.
“He wants a statewide minimum wage, whether that stays what it is now or whether that’s raising it. However, he has said that he would be open to those conversations with both the House and the Senate,” Hammes said. “It’s too early to tell what those conversations will be because we have not had them yet.”
Branstad said in October that a single minimum wage was better for businesses. The Iowa Association of Business and Industry, a powerful lobbying group, supports one minimum wage rate throughout the state, arguing that inconsistency hinders economic development.
More than a dozen states have passed minimum wage pre-emption laws in recent years, with some pockets of resistance. Arizona lawmakers approved a sweeping law this year that strips cities of state tax revenue if they adopt laws that go against state laws. Voters in one city, Flagstaff, ignored an explicit threat from the governor to pull its tax money and passed a minimum wage increase this month.
Sen. Bill Dix, the newly selected majority leader from Shell Rock, said Friday that lawmakers are interested in addressing minimum wage, but he declined to discuss specifics because lawmakers are still figuring out legislative priorities.
Emily Schott, an organizer for the advocacy group Iowa Citizens For Community Improvement, called for the state to approve a $15 hourly minimum wage. If approved, that would match Seattle as the country’s highest minimum wage.
Schott said she could envision the Legislature approving one of two scenarios in the coming session - either a ban on local control without a minimum wage increase or a ban with a small wage bump that would do little to help struggling workers.
Schott said her organization is still strategizing how it will tackle proposed minimum wage legislation by Republicans that bans local control.
“To me, it would seem that they should not go out of their way to actually make the government, in this case, bigger, as opposed to allowing individual communities to determine what’s best for them,” she said.
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