Good news for minimum wage workers; Washington, D.C.'s city council approved on Tuesday to raise the city's minimum wage to $11.50 an hour by 2016.
According to the Associated Press, the pay rate is an increase from the current $8.25 an hour, which will make it one of the highest in the country. The vote was reportedly unanimous from council members, but still needs a final council vote, expected in January, the Washington Post said.
The approval is an agreement with Montgomery and Prince George's counties in Maryland. Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker III, who said that passing the bill is "the right thing to do," signed that county's bill Tuesday morning.
Once in effect, all three jurisdictions, the city and its two neighbors, who have a collective total of 2.5 million people, would have the highest minimum wage in the country. Sonoma, California, enjoy the highest rate, at $15.38 an hour. But some think that the new initiative is too high. Democratic Mayor Vincent Gray has opposed the measure, upholding the impact of the initiative on small businesses is unclear. Gray is pushing for a $10 an hour increase instead.
The District of Columbia Chamber of Commerce has reportedly wanted a minimum wage increase for the last three years, but spoke against the high increase in a November blog post.
"The DC Council could vote on the $11.50 per hour minimum wage within the next week or two and to do so would be wrong. I hope our elected officials can reverse their trend of misguided and arbitrary business decisions," the blog said. "That is far too high of a number and clearly would not have the impact on District residents that proponents have suggested."
Council member Kenyan McDuffie tweeted:
Proud to vote to raise DC's minimum wage to $11.50/hour & link future increases to CPI. Working families are the backbone of DC. #paydc
— Kenyan R. McDuffie (@CM_McDuffie) December 17, 2013
