Minimum wage would be $15 in big counties, $12 in smaller ones under novel bill passed by Pa. House

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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.'
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