Bill advances to slow annual increases to Nebraska minimum wage

Yahoo

30-04-2025

State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln. March 31, 2025. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — State lawmakers advanced an amended proposal Wednesday to slow annual increases to Nebraska's minimum wage down to a fixed rate, rather than using the inflationary bumps that voters approved in 2022.
Legislative Bill 258, from State Sen. Jane Raybould of Lincoln, advanced 33-16 with a 'compromise' from State Sen. Stan Clouse of Kearney setting annual increases to the state minimum wage at 1.75%. Voters in 2022 approved permanent cost-of-living increases each Jan. 1, starting in 2027, based on a calculation of inflation for the Midwest region from the prior August.
Nebraska's minimum wage will rise to $15 on Jan. 1 regardless of LB 258.
LB 258 would increase the state's training wage for teen workers and limit it to workers aged 16 to 19 at 75% of the state minimum wage this September, rather than 75% of the federal wage (which is $7.25 and hasn't changed since 2009). That wage can be paid for up to the first 90 days of employment.
As a result, workers aged 14 or 15 would get a new youth minimum wage beginning at $13.50 next January and increasing every five years by 1.5%. The training wage would rise by 1.5% each year.
Under LB 258, the new youth wage would not get above $15 until 2065, according to a Nebraska Examiner analysis.
LB 258 heads to a third and final round of debate. It advanced again with Raybould, a Democrat, joining 32 of 33 Republicans to advance the bill. State Sen. Dave Wordekemper of Fremont, a Republican, again opposed the measure.
Raybould said her bill provides predictability and that Clouse's suggestion was a 'reasonable compromise.'
Average inflation for the past five years, as provided under the voter-approved language, was 4.18%, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Midwest. Over the past 10 years, it was 2.63%. And over the past 25 years, it was 2.39%.
Of those 25 years, inflation was less than 1.75% a total of 11 times. The Midwest region faced deflation twice, in 2009 and 2015.
Clouse said the amended LB 258 would give wage earners and businesses 'certainty,' rather than 'rolling the dice' on whether there would be a wage adjustment.
State Sen. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln again led opposition to the measure she said would 'undercut the will of the people' and prevent hard working Nebraskans, particularly those who would be subject to the new 'youth minimum wage,' from fully realizing the 'intent' of voters just a few years ago.
Conrad said the 'heart' of the debate is economic justice and that senators needed to 'see the poor' who help keep the economy abuzz and 'not look down our nose at them.'
'This isn't a few kids working for bubble gum,' Conrad said. 'These are our neighbors who deserve us to hear them and see them, to provide them with an opportunity to keep their head above water.'
State Sen. Paul Strommen of Sidney, who supported Raybould's measure, said lawmakers and workers faced a 'never-ending chase' between mandated cost increases on businesses and increased prices on consumers. He predicted more lost jobs and automation.
Strommen also is lead sponsor of a bill amended into LB 415, from State Sen. Beau Ballard of Lincoln, to weaken paid sick leave protections that voters approved just last fall.
'We're never going to be satisfied,' Strommen said of the minimum wage cycle. 'We have to come up with a better way to handle this.'
State Sens. Mike Moser of Columbus and Kathleen Kauth of the Millard area said that if workers wanted a higher wage, they needed to work for it.
Moser said the debate surrounded 'class warfare' when he said the minimum wage was not a 'living' wage. Kauth said it was a 'safeguard against people being abused too much.'
'If you're struggling in your family, do your best to get a different job, get an education,' Moser said. 'See what you can do to improve your outlook.'
Kauth agreed, adding: 'Change yourself rather than asking the government to do it for you.'
State Sens. Dan Quick of Grand Island and Ashlei Spivey of Omaha said that inflation affected all Nebraskans and that the best way to support youths is to invest in them and their families.
State Sen. John Fredrickson of Omaha said Raybould's bill was a 'setback,' not a 'stepping stone' to getting more young workers hired, as Raybould has suggested.
Fredrickson said young people aren't working just for a 'slush fund' or 'extra cash' but instead work to help with household expenses, college savings, gas, food and to 'make ends meet.'
'We cannot tell them that their efforts are less valuable or that fairness and equality of wages can wait another year until they're a year older,' said Fredrickson, asking if industry-specific wages were next.
State Sen. Victor Rountree of Bellevue said that when he was young, and before he went into the U.S. Air Force, he saved wages he earned as a teen to help his mother, including from a low-wage construction job.
'I put a lot of money up in the left back corner of my top drawer in the dresser,' Rountree said, telling his mom that if she ever needed it, it was there.
Federal minimum wage: Created in 1938, now $7.25.
Nebraska minimum wage: Created in 1967, now $13.50.
Nebraska tipped employees minimum wage: Created in 1970, now $2.13. Wages plus gratuities must equal or exceed the Nebraska minimum wage under state law.
Nebraska training wage: Created in 1991, now $5.44 (75% of the federal minimum wage) for up to the first 90 days of employment for a worker younger than 20 years old.
Nebraska student-learners minimum wage: Created in 1987, now $11.25 (75% of the Nebraska minimum wage) for workers who are part of a vocational training program.
Nebraska youth minimum wage: Does not currently exist.
Much of the debate surrounded the 'will of the voters' that opponents said Raybould and supporters of the changes were undercutting.
'If we pass this bill, we are telling Nebraskans that their vote only counts when it's convenient for us,' said State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha. 'That's not a democracy. It's not a public service, and it's not the role of a citizen's Legislature.'
State Sen. Bob Hallstrom of Syracuse said that was flat wrong and that supporters were 'free and well within our authority' to amend the language, so long as they had at least 33 votes under the Nebraska Constitution.
'I guess if you say things long enough, you might begin to believe it yourself,' Hallstrom said. 'Maybe some other people will believe you, but that doesn't make it any more true.'
This round of debate was less personal than the first for Raybould, a longtime grocery store executive whose family owns and operates Super Saver and Russ's Market. Raybould continues to serve as vice chair of the company's board. She filed a conflict of interest statement on LB 258.
The change came in part because Raybould urged lawmakers Wednesday to move away from 'personal attacks.'
'Even when it's couched with words like 'my dear friend,' it gives permission for others to direct their anger and their hatred toward that person, and that can have very unfortunate consequences,' Raybould said, citing recent political violence in Pennsylvania.
During the debate, Raybould and Hallstrom walked through LB 31 of 2007, from Conrad during her first year as a lawmaker. As introduced, Conrad's bill, her first in 11 years of legislative service so far, would have increased the minimum wage over time for all workers 17 years old or older, while younger workers would have been subject to the federal minimum wage.
Hallstrom, as a paid lobbyist 18 years ago, opposed LB 31.
Raybould asked Hallstrom if the Conrad of 2025 would have supported LB 31 of 2007, which Raybould and Hallstrom said seemed an odd position.
'I don't think I'm qualified to speculate or define as to what now Senator Conrad, formerly Senator Nantkes, might have done differently,' Hallstrom said. 'What I do know is that I do not criticize her for having a change of heart or a change of mind on the issue.'
A version of Conrad's bill passed later in 2007, in line with federal minimum wage bumps. Conrad helped lead the successful 2014 ballot initiative that raised the state wage.
State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha called out the 'tone deafness' of LB 258's debate, such as the exchange on the floor of the Legislature between Raybould and Hallstrom, a former paid lobbyist, being used as justification for the measure's necessity.
Conrad said the heart of her work has always been to put more money in people's pockets.
'If you'd like to ask me about my intentions,' Conrad responded, 'I'm happy to yield for questions so that other senators don't have to guess as to my intentions from 15 years ago.'
The federal minimum wage did not apply to most workers until 1978:
In October 1938, the wage went into effect for employees engaged in interstate commerce or in producing goods for interstate commerce.
Beginning September 1961, at a slightly lower rate than interstate commerce employees, the wage extended to workers of large retail or service enterprises, as well as those in local transit, construction or gas stations.
By February 1967, state or local government employees in hospitals, nursing homes and schools, as well as workers in laundries, dry cleaners and large hotels, motels, restaurants or farms were covered. Between 1970 and 1978, farm workers were paid at a lower rate.
Beginning January 1978, the federal minimum wage extended to most nonexempt workers at one minimum wage, $2.65 at the time.
Nebraska created a state minimum wage in 1967, applying in that case to workers not covered by the federal minimum wage until 1978. The Nebraska minimum wage has now surpassed the federal minimum wage and must be paid to all workers in businesses employing four or more employees. For smaller businesses, the federal minimum wage must be paid.
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