Another merger attempt fails for slowing Nebraska's minimum wage increases

Yahoo

7 days ago

State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln speaks in favor of gun reforms on March 16, 2023, in Lincoln. In her hand is a cut-out of a pre-schooler in Raybould's district, Octavia, who Raybould said the suggested reforms would support. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — Another last-minute attempt by State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln to force a vote this session on a legislative proposal to slow Nebraska's voter-approved minimum wage increases failed Thursday to join an unrelated bill.
This time, she tried attaching the amendment to State Sen. Tony Sorrentino of the Elkhorn area's Legislative Bill 265, a budget bill with business overtones that dealt with unemployment insurance tax rates and the Workforce Development Program Cash Fund.
Opponents trying to stop the effort by Raybould, a Democrat in the officially nonpartisan Legislature, filed motions to filibuster the amendment and keep it from being considered — a tactic her fellow Democrats used to successfully block it from becoming part of a bill Wednesday weakening Nebraska's paid sick leave protections, LB 415, which is heading to the governor's desk.
Raybould said before withdrawing her amendment that she 'was going to do everything' to work within the rules and follow the regulations of the body. She emphasized that if the rules had been followed, her bill would not have failed after Sorrentino missed the vote on final reading, because lawmakers would have been able to reconsider it on the same day and pass her standalone bill.
'I made a commitment to all the business leaders out there that are in the lobby [and] to the small businesses, daycare centers, dog groomers and yoga studios,' Raybould said.
Raybould also emphasized that she wants to act now, saying the political dynamics facing her bill change if lawmakers wait. She said it would be harder to reduce pay for young people after the voter-approved law has taken effect.
Her revived proposal, in its current form, would shrink the wage increases by setting the annual increase for adults at 1.75%. It also would create a youth minimum wage and amend a separate state training wage for people ages 16 to 19 in the first 90 days on the job.
Raybould and supporters of her changes said they would protect small businesses that could not afford to pay more. Lawmakers against slowing wage growth said they were defending the people's will.
State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha said Sorrentino's bill was 'hijacked by the Senator Raybould show' during the debate as she was taking a 'third bite of the apple.'
'What troubles me about small business owners like Senator Raybould … is that they have more solidarity with large corporations than they do with the workers themselves,' said Hunt, who runs a small store in Omaha.
Raybould withdrew her amendment after it looked like lawmakers wouldn't have the time to consider the amendment, which many believe had the votes needed to pass. But before she pulled her amendment, she pushed back on what she called 'misrepresented dialogue' from Democratic-aligned lawmakers against her proposal.
'It's not something that we're doing to save money, as some have alleged; it's really to be an incentive to hire young people,' Raybould said. 'I think there are several things that the Legislature can do to strike a balance on the [wage] increase approved in November and not forcing our small and medium businesses to shutter or sell out.'
Opposed lawmakers eventually pulled amendments related to the filibuster of Raybould's minimum wage amendment, but only after responding to her speech, letting the base bill, LB 265, eventually advance.
One state senator, speaking privately, said the drama from Thursday showed the statehouse is 'not a serious place,' and that lawmakers are not 'serious people.'
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