Both houses of the Alabama Legislature have passed a bill banning municipalities from establishing local minimum wages higher than the federally mandated minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The bill was signed by Gov. Robert Bentley on Thursday afternoon, Feb. 25.
The bill was introduced by Vestavia Hills Republican David Faulkner for the spring 2016 legislative session. It passed the House by a vote of 71–30 and the Senate by a vote of 23–11.
Speaker Mike Hubbard, R-Auburn, was a sponsor of the bill in the House and voted yea on the bill Tuesday, Feb. 17. Opelika Democrat George Bandy voted against the bill.
Faulkner first proposed a similar bill in last year's second special session in response to a Birmingham ordinance set to raise its minimum wage gradually to $10.10 per hour by July 2017.
Birmingham passed an additional ordinance Tuesday, Feb. 23, to immediately raise the city's minimum wage to $8.50 per hour beginning Wednesday, Feb. 24. The first step of the incremental increase was initially scheduled for July. It was moved by the council earlier this month to March 1, and was moved to yesterday.
This year's version of the House bill includes several additional provisions Faulkner's 2015 version did not.
Faulkner's bill bans local governments from passing ordinances to mandate paid leave, vacation times and other regulations of work schedules not already regulated by state or federal law.
Birmingham would not be the first large city to raise its minimum wage. It would follow other large metropolitan cities with higher minimum wages including Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Louisville, Kentucky.
Faulkner is the representative for the area including Vestavia Hills, which neighbors Birmingham.
The ordinance to raise Birmingham's minimum wage was passed by the city's council Aug. 18. The bill proposed in the Alabama House of Representatives would reverse Birmingham's minimum wage increase.
“There’s no question what needs to be done today,” said Lashunda Scales, a Birmingham city councilwoman during the meeting. “Nobody can live off $15,000 a year. If that’s what the citizens are living off of, we might as well tell all of our citizens to depend on the federal government — and everybody knows what those programs consist of.”
Alabama currently has no law on the books to alter the national minimum wage. The City of Auburn currently adheres to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Auburn Mayor Bill Ham Jr. told The Plainsman in an interview last year it is unlikely Auburn will raise its minimum wage in the near future.
“There’s been no discussion by the council to single out the minimum wage and take action like that,” Ham said. “I really don’t see it ever happening [in Auburn], but that would just be another area with the state government telling us what to do.”
The bill has attracted the attention of presidential candidates as well. Hillary Clinton posted a tweet early Wednesday morning, Feb. 17, criticizing state legislators for their attempts to block local autonomy.
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