From Lutheran Advocacy Ministry in PA (https://www.lutheranadvocacypa.org/):
The Pennsylvania Senate passed a compromise bill that would gradually raise the state’s minimum wage to $9.50 per hour over the next two years. Under the terms of Senate Bill 79, Pennsylvania’s minimum wage would move from $7.25 to $8 per hour on July 1, 2020. It would rise to $8.50 on Jan. 1, 2021; $9 on July 1, 2021; and then take the final step to $9.50 on Jan. 1, 2022.
The bill passed on a 42-7 vote with seven Republicans in opposition. Gov. Tom Wolf has been pushing for a higher minimum wage since taking office in 2015. The increase is anticipated to face a greater test in the state House of Representatives.
Pennsylvania’s current minimum wage is the federal minimum of $7.25, which is an hourly wage less that each of the Commonwealth’s neighbors and most other states. The bill is significantly less than the $12 minimum that Wolf proposed in January.
The House is not expected to take up the bill before December, at the earliest.
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