TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Floridians may have another minimum wage amendment to vote on in 2022 if a new proposal is approved.
Even as the ink dries on an amendment to gradually raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, a proposed amendment would allow the Florida Legislature to set a training wage below the minimum wage.
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Under the minimum wage amendment passed last year, the state’s minimum wage will rise to $10 an hour this September and by an additional dollar each year until reaching $15 in 2026.
Now lawmakers are already looking to walk it back.
“The rising minimum wage is going to have an impact on teen workers,” said State Sen. Jeff Brandes, R-St. Peterburg, who’s sponsoring the new amendment. “It’s going to have an impact on those with low skills.”
The proposed amendment would allow the Legislature to set what lawmakers are calling a “training wage” for employees Brandes said would otherwise be hard to hire.
“We’re trying to make sure that the employers aren’t putting those on the bottom of the pile, but are strongly considering those,” Brandes said.
The training wage would apply to prisoners, people with felony convictions and Floridians ages 21 and younger.
“Those populations generally have an unemployment rate of around 25 to 30 percent, which is five or six times the state average unemployment rate,” Brandes said.
But Florida AFL-CIO lobbyist Rich Templin said Brandes’ proposal isn’t the answer to the goal of ensuring everyone can get hired.
“We understand Senator Brandes’ concern about these workforce segments, but denying them a new constitutional right to a near-living wage is not the way to do it,” Templin said. “It’s state-sanctioned discrimination.”
The proposal also received pushback from attorney John Morgan, who backed the $15 minimum wage amendment. He tweeted sharply worded criticisms in response to the measure.
“A great day for racism. People of color are disproportionately incarcerated!! A great day for child labor abuse. Senator Brandes should be ashamed!!!!” Morgan tweeted. “’Hard to hire?’ Give me a break. Politicians suck.”
Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, the state’s top elected Democrat, condemned the new proposal.
“Senator Brandes’ proposal is not what’s in the best interest for the citizens of our state considering we just passed this amendment,” she said.
There is no House sponsor for the training wage amendment, which leaves its future uncertain.
Even if the training wage amendment carried enough votes to clear the Legislature, it would still need at least 60 percent voter approval to become part of the state constitution.
Information from the News Service of Florida contributed to this report.