Bill banning GA liquor stores from selling wholesale hemp products back returning to committee
Georgia lawmakers want to ban liquor stores, and those affiliated with liquor stores, from selling consumable hemp products.
Senate Bill 229 was proposed in February and is expected before a committee again on Wednesday.
According to the proposed legislation, if passed it would amend the Georgia Hemp Farming Act.
In terms of what changes the bill makes, SB 229 would prevent wholesale dealers of alcoholic beverages from receiving sale licenses for consumable hemp. Anyone who is affiliated with a wholesale dealer of alcoholic beverages would also be prevented from getting a license.
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Georgia law says a wholesale alcoholic beverage dealer is any seller who sells beverages to other wholesale dealers, to retail dealers or to retail consumers. This includes liquor stores as well as those who manufacture or distribute alcoholic beverages, like distilleries, breweries or vineyards, among others.
So which products would this affect as far as hemp?
In Georgia, consumable hemp products are any hemp product meant to be eaten, absorbed or inhaled by people or animals.
This means that for a liquor store or hemp seller to sell their goods, they could not sell the other products, or even be affiliated with someone who is directly or indirectly controlled by a business that either sells alcohol or hemp products.
If you sell CBD or THC or Delta-9 products in Georgia, you would be unable to also sell alcohol, or work for someone who sells alcohol, with the opposite relationship also true.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Pa. House passes bill to raise the minimum wage
The state Capitol in Harrisburg. (Capital-Star file) The state House voted along party lines Wednesday to raise the minimum wage to $15 for most Pennsylvanians, and to $12 for those working in smaller, rural counties. It's a significant step in the latest effort by Democrats to get it above the federal rate of $7.25. Pennsylvania's minimum wage has not been hiked since 2008 and is lower than all surrounding states — New York, Ohio, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware. The measure's sponsor, House Labor and Industry Committee chair Jason Dawkins (D-Philadelphia), said the bill is in an attempt to compromise with Republicans who have long warned about the potential impacts on businesses, especially in smaller counties with a lower cost of living. 'Since I've been chair, we've been trying to figure out a different approach to get this done,' Dawkins told the Capital-Star. 'This time around, we had a little bit more insight into where our challenges lie, one particularly being that some of our counties were worried about moving too quickly, and some were not comfortable going over $12.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE A previous bill sponsored by Dawkins passed the House in 2023, but died in the Republican-controlled Senate. And in 2019, the Senate passed a Democratic-led bill to raise it to $9.25, which died in the then-GOP-controlled House. Dawkins' latest bill would see the minimum wage rise gradually each year, reaching $15 in most counties on Jan. 1, 2028. It would also raise the tipped minimum wage from $2.83 to 60% of the minimum. Counties with populations below 210,000, with the exception of Centre, Monroe and Pike counties, would only see the minimum wage rise to $12 in the same timeframe. A spokesperson for the House Democratic Caucus said the three smaller counties were put in the $15 bracket at the request of Democratic members who represent them. One exception to the gradual rise to $15 would be Philadelphia County, which Dawkins represents. There, the minimum wage would rise to $15 on January 1, 2026. 'Philadelphia has the highest population of folks who are in what we call deep poverty levels,' Dawkins said. He added there is particular urgency given the possibility some of those people may lose access to federal benefits like Medicaid and food assistance under a proposed bill moving through the GOP-controlled U.S. Congress. 'We wanted to have some type of safety net there because we know those folks might be losing benefits and other services,' he said. But Dawkins' attempt to offer an olive branch to GOP lawmakers in the form of gradual wage hike and a lower target in small counties appears to have failed in his own chamber. Every House Republican voted against the bill, and many criticized it during a two-hour debate on the floor Wednesday afternoon. 'Not every wage is designed to be a livable wage,' Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R-Bedford) 'My 16-year-old son is not working for a livable wage. Someone who is retired and is helping out part-time, that is not necessarily a livable wage.' He also warned that raising the minimum wage could result in the elimination of low wage jobs and harm small businesses in particular. Others opposed the very provisions Dawkins said were intended to earn bipartisan support. Rep. Kate Klunk (R-York) warned that creating different minimum wages across counties could lead to confusion for businesses that cross county lines, or encourage business owners to set up shop where the wage is lower. 'This county-based patchwork of minimum wages is going to be a mess,' Klunk said. She used examples of businesses with locations in York and Adams counties as examples, including golf courses that straddle the border between them. 'This bill is truly unworkable,' she said. 'It is a compliance nightmare.' Rep. Mike Jones (R-York) was one of few Republicans to signal openness to raising the minimum wage during debate, but said he could not support Dawkins' bill. 'I do commend the majority chair for what I think is a good faith attempt at a reasonable compromise,' he said. However, he added that he would want to see exceptions to the minimum wage for nonprofits and high-school aged employees. 'Potential to find middle ground' To become law, the bill will have to pass the Republican-controlled Senate. Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) said that there may be room for compromise on a minimum wage increase, especially if paired with Republican-backed deregulation efforts he said could help grow 'maximum wage jobs.' 'Making sure working families have access to good, family-sustaining jobs is key to helping our commonwealth grow and thrive,' Pittman told the Capital-Star in a statement. 'There is potential to finding [sic] a middle ground for an increase, but any possible action would need to be a commonsense adjustment, and sensitive to the impact changes would have on small businesses and non-profit organizations.' Republican Sen. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie), who has previously introduced a bill to raise the minimum wage to $15, commended the House's effort, but said he would not support a bill with a county-by-county approach. 'While I appreciate that the House is trying to advance the conversation, I do not support HB 1549 in its current form,' Laughlin said in an emailed statement. 'A minimum wage tied to county size just deepens the economic divides we're supposed to be addressing. If we're going to get serious about raising the minimum wage, we need to do it uniformly across the state, not with a patchwork approach that leaves people behind based on where they live.' Laughlin was an early Republican supporter of raising the minimum wage to $15 in Pennsylvania. But national trends may indicate more openness from members of his party this time around. On Tuesday, conservative U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) introduced a bill to raise the minimum wage to $15 for all Americans. He told NBC News, 'If we're going to be a working people's party, we have to do something for working people. And working people haven't gotten a raise in years. So they need a raise.' His comments reflect an openness to his party's increasing appeal to working class voters that was made apparent in the latest general election, which saw them move away from their traditional support of Democrats. Dawkins, the Pennsylvania bill's sponsor, is also aware of the shift, and hopes that it will help the bill earn the support that it needs to pass. 'I'm excited by the prospects, but I'm also disappointed that there could be a federal minimum wage that's gonna be higher than the state minimum wage — and it's being offered by one of the most conservative members of Congress,' he joked. 'But I'm hopeful it'll help folks come around to the idea.' 'This is what I believe we got elected to do,' he added. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Minimum wage would be $15 in big counties, $12 in smaller ones under novel bill passed by Pa. House
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania would raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour in 20 of its counties, and to $12 in the rest under a bill the Democratic-controlled state House passed Wednesday. It's a new approach for the chamber that is designed to win critical Republican support, and it comes after years of unsuccessful attempts to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour across the entire state. Pennsylvania's minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour since the federal minimum went up in 2009, and has stayed stagnant even as every neighboring state has set a higher floor. Under the House bill, Pennsylvania's biggest county, Philadelphia, would see its minimum wage immediately jump to $15 an hour on Jan. 1, 2026. In the next 16 most populous counties, including Allegheny, Erie, and Lancaster, the minimum wage would move to $12 an hour at the start of 2026, increase to $13 an hour the following year, then jump to $15 an hour in 2028. Three smaller counties, Centre, Monroe, and Pike, would also be included in this tier — all three have at least one Democratic representative, and a spokesperson for House Democrats said they had been included in the tier 'at the request of our members.' For the other 47 counties, the minimum wage would increase to $10 an hour in 2026, then grow by $1 each year until hitting $12 an hour in 2028. All counties would also receive an annual cost-of-living adjustment starting in 2029. That COLA would be based on consumer price data from Pennsylvania and neighboring states, as collected by the U.S. Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The minimum wage for tipped workers, such as those in restaurants, would also increase under the measure. These workers are currently paid $2.83 an hour, and the bill would require employers to pay them 60% of their county's minimum wage. The proposal passed the state House 102 to 101, along party lines. It now goes to the Labor and Industry Committee in the GOP-controlled state Senate for consideration. State Rep. Jason Dawkins (D., Philadelphia), the prime sponsor of the state House bill, told Spotlight PA he hopes Senate Republicans see the legislation as a sign of good-faith negotiation. Speaking on the state House floor Wednesday ahead of the bill's passage, he told his fellow members it would impose 'a living wage that transforms all communities throughout Pennsylvania.' Dawkins tried to pass a minimum wage hike last legislative session, too, but that proposal would have simply raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour across the state. The bill passed the state House, but Senate Republicans did not act on it. Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has also called on the legislature to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour during each of his annual budget proposals since taking office. State Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) has said he isn't opposed to a minimum wage increase in principle, but in 2023 as House lawmakers considered Dawkins' last bill, he said that $15 an hour is 'not a practical number.' It could, he said at the time, negatively impact nonprofit organizations that provide essential services, such as in-home medical care. In a new statement to Spotlight PA, Pittman said it is possible the legislature could find 'a middle ground for an increase to the minimum wage,' but that any change would need to be a 'commonsense adjustment' that is sensitive to the impact on small businesses and nonprofits. More of his attention, he said, is on 'maximum wage jobs.' He cited a Senate GOP proposal that would prevent Pennsylvania from participating in a carbon cap-and-trade program as an area of focus, and said his caucus also wants to keep making it easier for builders to get project permits. Dawkins said his new minimum wage tier approach is a response to feedback from people like Pittman. 'The hope,' he said, 'is to create a dialogue.' He said this approach is also designed to address counties' differing needs without repealing Pennsylvania's minimum wage preemption law. First put in place in 2006, the last time Pennsylvania raised its wage on the state level, the law requires that any change to the minimum wage be made by state lawmakers. This prevents larger, more expensive cities like Philadelphia from acting independently to raise their wages. Philadelphia's mayor and city council president sent state lawmakers a letter in April asking for authorization to set a higher minimum wage, saying that as the state's biggest municipality, it has 'unique circumstances' and is 'faced with both increasing housing costs and high poverty levels, issues that an increased minimum wage could alleviate.' City officials aren't the only ones who feel this way. The head of Brandywine Realty Trust, a major employer in Southeastern Pennsylvania, sent a letter last month asking for a higher statewide wage, saying it makes sense 'from a business perspective' because 'better-paid workers are more reliable, more productive, and more likely to stay with their employers.' As part of the trade-off of trying to appeal to state Senate Republicans, Dawkins' bill is a difficult pill to swallow for some of the more progressive members of his caucus. State Rep. Chris Rabb (D., Philadelphia) said he supports the measure but wishes it raised wages higher and didn't allow separate minimum wages to be set for tipped workers, and for workers who are incarcerated or have disabilities. He called it the 'lowest common denominator,' but added, 'at least it moves us in the right direction.' 'For those of us who believe in a living wage for all, it's a hard vote to take,' Rabb told Spotlight PA. Rabb plans to introduce legislation that would eliminate separate minimum wages for tipped or incarcerated workers and workers with disabilities, plus repeal the state's preemption of local wage laws. Still, he acknowledged that Senate Republicans are likely to oppose those provisions. He called Dawkins' bill a 'good-faith effort.' 'We know that the Republican controlled Senate is not likely to move on this bill, and if they do, they're going to ask for their pound of flesh,' Rabb said. Senate Republicans most recently voted to raise the minimum wage in 2019, under former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. That proposal would have set a statewide floor of $9.50 an hour. However the state House, which was then controlled by Republicans, declined to take it up. At least one state Senate Republican supports a $15 minimum wage. Sen. Dan Laughlin (R., Erie) introduced a bill last session that would have raised the floor to $15 an hour by 2026. He told Spotlight PA that he plans to re-introduce similar legislation before the end of June. State Sen. Christine Tartaglione (D., Philadelphia), a longtime advocate for raising the minimum wage, said she feels lawmakers are getting 'a little bit closer' to agreement on the issue. Still, key details remain unresolved, she said — particularly a consensus among Senate Republicans on the appropriate wage floor and how to handle cost-of-living increases. 'So far, that's been the block,' Tartaglione said of the COLA. The bill now heads to the Senate Labor and Industry Committee, where Chair Sen. Devlin Robinson (R., Allegheny) called the House measure a good place to 'get the conversation started,' and said he's open to a COLA. But he said he still plans to introduce his own proposal to raise the wage to a still-undetermined 'reasonable' floor. Marc Stier, the executive director of the progressive Pennsylvania Policy Center, said that he's 'hopeful but uncertain' that lawmakers will be able to get the bill over the finish line. Stier thinks that a key factor will be how hard Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro pushes for the change, saying that he has to know 'the governor's bottom line.' He's hoping that after funding public education, raising the minimum wage is Shapiro's second priority. 'We've been talking this to death,' Stier told Spotlight PA. 'There's not much more to say.' If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CNBC
2 hours ago
- CNBC
PBS, NPR funding on the line as House nears final vote on $9.4 billion in DOGE-backed cuts
The House on Wednesday moved a step closer to approving President Donald Trump's $9.4 billion spending cut package, which would codify some cuts originally proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency. The package would grant permission to the White House not to spend billions of dollars that had already been approved by Congress. The money would be clawed back from specific agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes federally appropriated grants to National Public Radio (NPR) and Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). Although the Wednesday procedural vote passed largely along party lines, a final vote expected Thursday could see some resistance from House Republicans who are uneasy about the popular programs that are being targeted, like PBS and National Public Radio. Given House Speaker Mike Johnson's narrow Republican majority, he can only afford to lose a handful of votes and still push the package over the finish line on a party-line vote. Johnson said earlier this week that he was "working on" getting enough Republicans on board to pass the DOGE package, CNN reported. Wednesday's vote also finalized changes to Republicans' "big, beautiful bill" that were required by the Senate before the measure was allowed to pass with a simple majority, rather than the typical 60-vote Senate threshold. Budget measures like the "big, beautiful bill" can be considered under a special set of rules known as reconciliation. The Senate's parliamentarian, who acts as a sort of referee in disputes over Senate rules, had flagged some provisions in the package earlier that she said were incompatible with the chamber's reconciliation rules.
