Governor Gretchen Whitmer called on the Legislature to reach a bipartisan deal this week on new state minimum wage and earned sick leave laws or temporarily extend the status quo into the summer.
Whitmer is on an overseas trade trip, but her office said Wednesday that the Democratic governor had spoken with House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) and Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids). Whitmer Press Secretary Stacey LaRouche said she asked the legislative leaders to wrap up an agreement or provide some short-term certainty for workers and employers.
“If they are unable to reach an agreement by this week, she also encouraged them to pass this short-term extension through July 1st,” she told Michigan Public Radio. “This would create more space for the House and the Senate to continue negotiations while we work on the budget,” LaRouche said.
A legislative solution would preempt an order from the Michigan Supreme Court, which held a Republican-controlled Legislature acted unconstitutionally in 2018 to thwart minimum wage and sick leave petition initiatives. The goal of the court order was to bring wage and paid leave standards as close as possible to the timeline set in the public initiatives before the Legislature’s illegal action.
LaRouche said the Michigan Supreme Court made the right call.
“Governor Whitmer has long opposed the unconstitutional tactic Republicans used to undercut working families and discourage companies from providing sick leave to employees,” she said, but added the governor shares concerns by employers and some workers that implementing the paid leave policy would be very complicated. Restaurants and some workers say the new minimum wage law would add to payroll expenses, discourage tipping and possibly lead to layoffs.
The Republican-led House and Democrat-controlled Senate are working on bills with an eye toward the Feb. 21 deadline, when the Supreme Court decision will take effect.
On Wednesday, the Senate Regulatory Reform Committee continued to hear testimony on a Democrat-backed bill to change the state’s minimum wage law. That Senate proposal would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2027, ahead of the planned schedule. But it would also maintain a lower minimum wage for tipped workers, like bartenders and servers, than the law upheld by the Supreme Court.
Restaurant industry groups have been pressuring lawmakers to keep the lower minimum wage for tipped workers, arguing tips are already supposed to make up the difference.
Lu Hayoz is among the restaurant owners who say that would be devastating for them. Hayoz said she’s been cautioning customers that higher menu prices may be on the way.
“Just trying to prepare them for the costs that might be coming their way. They think that they are doing us a favor that they're in favor for, like, you girls work so hard, you know, you do. You deserve a big raise, you know, until you have to tell them this cost has to come from somewhere,” Hayoz said.
But One Fair Wage, the group behind the minimum wage law that the Supreme Court upheld, argues any changes before it takes effect would be unacceptable. One Fair Wage President Saru Jayaraman said her group would challenge any changes lawmakers make by launching a referendum campaign.
“It was restaurant workers from the very beginning collecting those signatures ... For them now to be the topic of conversation in that building that they get left out when they were the ones that initiated it -- it's not just heartbreaking -- it's not just wrong -- it's so infuriating,” Jayaraman told reporters at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Now, advocates on both sides of the issue are looking to measure the commitment of Senate Democrats to hold firm on minimum wage and paid leave, or make some adjustments.
Wednesday’s Senate Regulatory Reform committee pushed the Senate’s sick leave proposal out to the full Senate. The minimum wage proposal is scheduled for another day of committee testimony on Thursday. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle said they hope a deal can be reached without waiting until July.
“We have zero interest in an extension,” said a House Republican source. “A deal is on the table now.”
Senator Kevin Hertel (D-St. Clair Shores), who sponsored the minimum wage bill, concurred with that sentiment.
“I think the point here is to make sure that everybody is focused on getting to that deal and not playing politics, on the process of getting there,” Hertel said.
But Senator Roger Hauck (R-Mount Pleasant), who sits on the regulatory reform committee, said he doubts Democrats have the votes line up. “It's in their court,” Hauck told reporters. “And they from what I understand, they can't even get the votes they need to get it out.”
