Lawmakers will try again Thursday to pass bill slowing Nebraska minimum wage increases

Yahoo

21-05-2025

State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln talks with State Sen. Tony Sorrentino of the Elkhorn area on May 14, 2025, after the defeat of a Raybould-led bill to slow down annual voter-approved increases to the state's minimum wage because Sorrentino missed the final vote. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — A week after the procedural failure of a proposal to slow down voter-approved minimum wage increases, Nebraska lawmakers on Thursday will reconsider the final vote.
If the bill's previous supporters hold, the measure would have enough support to pass. State Sen. Tony Sorrentino of the Elkhorn area, a freshman lawmaker, missed the final vote to pass Legislative Bill 258, from State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln.
That's because the vote came up about two hours earlier than expected after lead opponent State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln realized Sorrentino's absence and changed tactics.
The bill failed 31-17. Amending a law that voters enact requires at least 33 votes. LB 258 would make annual bumps to the minimum wage smaller and more predictable, supporters say, and create carveouts to pay teen workers less.
One listed 'no' vote, State Sen. Beau Ballard of Lincoln, supported the bill originally but tried to sit out the vote to let lawmakers reconsider the vote. He was marked as a 'no' vote under a rule change in January. A reconsideration motion requires a senator on the 'prevailing' side to want to change a vote, or the requesting senator must have missed the vote.
Sorrentino missed last Wednesday's vote, because he was escorting colleagues he met through business to a meeting across the street. Of opponents who consider the issue decided, Sorrentino said, 'We all have to learn the rules of the Legislature.'
Multiple senators said such a reconsideration motion on a bill from final reading, while likely allowed under the legislative rules, hadn't been used since 1984.
The effort could ignite a rules fight over whether the reconsideration should be allowed.
Speaker John Arch of La Vista confirmed this week that a reconsideration motion would come Thursday, though he said he couldn't say when. The Legislature will take up either Ballard's motion or a new reconsideration motion Sorrentino filed Tuesday, the final day he could do so under the Legislature's rules. At least 30 senators must agree to reconsider.
Asked to comment on the reconsideration, Raybould said, 'No.'
She said a reporter should ask Conrad for comment, who Raybould said was already discussing the motion. Last week, she said she thought Democratic-aligned lawmakers were acting in 'goodwill,' because they knew Raybould had the votes.
The fight has been personal for Raybould, a longtime grocery store executive, who views the legislation as creating a 'balance' that progressives, including Conrad, have rejected.
'I have never seen such a blatant, bald-faced, self-serving, self-dealing, selfish, unethical example of self-dealing as this bill in the Legislature,' State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha said during an April 1 debate.
Sorrentino, a former business owner, said he's personally not in favor of a legislated minimum wage, describing himself as a 'true fan of supply and demand.' He said the market is a better indicator.
Sorrentino said it's not a vote about 'putting people in poverty, because frankly, I've seen cases where minimum wage is never going to fly, it's way too low.'
LB 258 is Raybould's 2025 priority bill. She is the lone Democrat in favor of LB 258 as well as a separate LB 415 to weaken a voter-approved paid sick leave framework that takes effect Oct. 1, after 2024 passage. Republican State Sen. Dave Wordekemper of Fremont opposes LB 258 and the current version of LB 415. There are 33 Republicans in the officially nonpartisan body.
There were some initial conversations about attaching LB 258 to LB 415. That approach heightens the risk that voters could repeal the legislative changes and go back to the voter-approved language, which some advocates have discussed as a response to LB 415.
Legislative Bill 258, related to the state minimum wage, would remove inflationary bumps after the base wage rises to $15 on Jan. 1, which voters approved in 2022. Future increases would be fixed at a 1.75% annual rate beginning in 2026. That was a deal struck between State Sens. Jane Raybould of Lincoln, the sponsor, and Stan Clouse of Kearney to provide 'certainty.'
Average inflation, as calculated by the ballot measure's current language, was 2.6% last year and 4.18% for the past five years. Over the past 10 years, inflation was 2.63%. And over the past 25 years, it was 2.39%, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Midwest.
LB 258 would also create a 'youth minimum wage' for workers aged 14 or 15. Beginning next year, those young workers could be paid $13.50 (the current minimum wage), which would increase by 1.5% every five years, beginning in 2030.
The youth minimum wage would stay below $15 — the floor that voters created for all workers beginning Jan. 1 — until 2065 under LB 258, according to a Nebraska Examiner analysis.
Teen workers aged 16 to 19 could still be paid a 'training wage,' which would no longer apply to 14 or 15 year olds with the creation of the 'youth minimum wage.' The training wage allows employers to pay teen workers a lower rate for up to the first 90 days of employment.
Current law allows the training wage to be 75% of the federal minimum wage, so as low as $5.44. LB 258 would increase the training wage to $13.50 beginning in September. The amended training wage would rise by 1.5% annually beginning in 2027.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX