Bill Text: NY A02204 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

---

Bill Title: Increases the minimum wage annually; provides for the enforcement of the minimum wage; repeals certain provisions of law relating thereto.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 60-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-10 - enacting clause stricken [A02204 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A02204-Introduced.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          2204

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 24, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. JOYNER, BRONSON, DINOWITZ, HEVESI, COLTON, GIBBS,
          L. ROSENTHAL, DICKENS, ARDILA, BORES, EPSTEIN, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, KELLES,
          MAMDANI, RAGA, SHRESTHA, REYES, SIMON -- read once and referred to the
          Committee on Labor

        AN  ACT  to amend the labor law, in relation to raising the minimum wage
          annually by a percentage which is based on inflation and providing for
          the enforcement of such minimum wage; and to repeal subdivision  6  of
          section 652 of the labor law relating thereto

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "raise  the
     2  wage act".
     3    §  2.  Legislative  findings. As New Yorkers struggle with the rapidly
     4  rising cost of living, their paychecks are not  keeping  up.  The  state
     5  minimum  wage  has  been flat at $15 in New York city since 2019. In the
     6  New York city suburbs it is also stalled at $15 and  under  current  law
     7  will not increase further. And in the rest of the state, years after the
     8  legislature  last  acted to raise the minimum wage it is still gradually
     9  inching up to $15, but will not increase further until  the  legislature
    10  acts.
    11    At  the  same  time, record inflation is causing the real value of the
    12  minimum wage to plummet across the state as consumers struggle with  the
    13  rapidly  rising  cost  of  necessities.  In New York city, its value has
    14  already fallen more than 15%, and is projected to fall a further 15%  by
    15  2027, or even more if consumer price inflation does not moderate in 2023
    16  and  2024 as expected. This steep decline in the minimum wage is revers-
    17  ing the historic reductions in poverty and earnings inequality that  the
    18  state  achieved  with  the  $15  minimum  wage.  And even once inflation
    19  returns to more typical levels, workers will continue to lose real wages
    20  as long as our minimum wage remains stagnant.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04134-01-3
        A. 2204                             2

     1    While in 2016 New York led the nation as the first state  to  adopt  a
     2  $15  minimum  wage, today it has fallen behind the many other cities and
     3  states that are raising their minimum wages well beyond $15. About fifty
     4  cities and counties and two states will have minimum wages above $15  an
     5  hour  as of January 2023, and a growing group will have minimum wages of
     6  more than $17 or $18 an hour. The fact that Yakima, Washington,  Fresno,
     7  California, and Denver, Colorado will all have higher minimum wages than
     8  New York shows how far pay has fallen in the state.
     9    To fix this, first, the value of New York city's minimum wage needs to
    10  be  restored  by  "catching it up" to where it would have been if it had
    11  been adjusted steadily each year since 2019 to  keep  pace  with  rising
    12  prices  and workforce productivity. That translates to raising the mini-
    13  mum wage to $21.25 an hour by 2027.
    14    Second, because the state minimum wage in  New  York  city's  suburbs,
    15  including  Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties, is also stalled at
    16  $15 and those regions have housing and living costs that are  almost  as
    17  high  as  New  York  city, the minimum wage there should increase at the
    18  same rate.
    19    Third, the minimum wage in the remainder  of  the  state  should  also
    20  eventually catch up with the state-wide rate, but at a slower pace since
    21  wages and costs are lower there.
    22    Finally, once the minimum wage across the state catches up, it must be
    23  automatically  adjusted  or  "indexed" each year so that it doesn't fall
    24  behind again. That is the approach that 18 states and  Washington,  D.C.
    25  are  already using to keep their minimum wages up to date. For adjusting
    26  the minimum wage each year, the legislature should adopt the same formu-
    27  la that the department of labor and the  division  of  the  budget  used
    28  successfully  to  increase  New  York's upstate minimum wage in 2022 and
    29  2023. They have been adjusting the minimum wage so that it keeps up both
    30  with rising prices and also with any increases in  worker  productivity.
    31  This  best  practice  ensures that underpaid workers' paychecks maintain
    32  their purchasing power and, that when there are gains in worker  produc-
    33  tivity,  that  workers  too  share  in those benefits. This approach has
    34  resulted in steady, moderate increases in the upstate wage of  70  cents
    35  in  2022,  and  $1.00  in 2023. It should be made permanent and expanded
    36  state-wide.
    37    Many of our lowest paid jobs  across  the  state  are  publicly-funded
    38  human  services jobs, in fields such as home care, childcare, and mental
    39  health care, where workers provide essential services on  which  we  all
    40  rely.  But  the  eroded minimum wage is holding down pay for these vital
    41  caregivers and making it impossible to fill these demanding jobs at  the
    42  same  time  that  demand  for services has exploded as the state's popu-
    43  lation ages and the pandemic has stressed families and  communities.  To
    44  address  this  critical  worker  shortage, we need to not just raise the
    45  minimum wage significantly, but also to provide the state funding neces-
    46  sary to finance those raises in the state and  city-contracted  programs
    47  that employ these essential workers.
    48    New  York's  experience  phasing  in  the $15 minimum wage showed that
    49  significant wage increases have been manageable for employers  and  that
    50  higher  paychecks  have  put money back into local communities, boosting
    51  consumer spending at neighborhood businesses.  Studies  by  the  federal
    52  reserve  bank  of New York of the impact in upstate counties, and by the
    53  New York city-based new school both found that New York's  last  minimum
    54  wage increase raised pay significantly without hurting employment - even
    55  in  counties  along  the  New York-Pennsylvania border where the minimum
    56  wage in our neighboring state is just $7.25.
        A. 2204                             3

     1    With the value of New York's minimum wage plummeting and rising prices
     2  squeezing New York's working families,  we  cannot  afford  to  wait  to
     3  restore a strong minimum wage for all New Yorkers.
     4    §  3.  Subdivision  1  of  section 652 of the labor law, as amended by
     5  section 1 of part K of chapter 54 of the laws of  2016,  is  amended  to
     6  read as follows:
     7    1.  Statutory.  Every  employer shall pay to each of its employees for
     8  each hour worked a wage of not less than:
     9    $4.25 on and after April 1, 1991,
    10    $5.15 on and after March 31, 2000,
    11    $6.00 on and after January 1, 2005,
    12    $6.75 on and after January 1, 2006,
    13    $7.15 on and after January 1, 2007,
    14    $8.00 on and after December 31, 2013,
    15    $8.75 on and after December 31, 2014,
    16    $9.00 on and after December 31, 2015, and until December 31, 2016, or,
    17  if greater, such other wage as may be established by federal law  pursu-
    18  ant to 29 U.S.C. section 206 or its successors or such other wage as may
    19  be established in accordance with the provisions of this article.
    20    (a) New York City. [(i) Large employers.] Every employer [of eleven or
    21  more  employees] shall pay to each of its employees for each hour worked
    22  in the city of New York a wage of not less than:
    23    $11.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2016,
    24    $13.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2017,
    25    $15.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2018,
    26    $17.25 on and after January 1, 2025,
    27    $19.25 on and after January 1, 2026,
    28    $21.25 on and after January 1, 2027, or, if greater, such  other  wage
    29  as  may be established by federal law pursuant to 29 U.S.C.  section 206
    30  or its successors or such other wage as may be established in accordance
    31  with the provisions of this article.
    32    [(ii) Small employers. Every employer of ten or less  employees  shall
    33  pay  to  each  of  its employees for each hour worked in the city of New
    34  York a wage of not less than:
    35    $10.50 per hour on and after December 31, 2016,
    36    $12.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2017,
    37    $13.50 per hour on and after December 31, 2018,
    38    $15.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2019,
    39    or, if greater, such other wage as may be established by  federal  law
    40  pursuant  to 29 U.S.C.  section 206 or its successors or such other wage
    41  as may be established in accordance with the provisions  of  this  arti-
    42  cle.]
    43    (b)  Remainder  of  downstate. Every employer shall pay to each of its
    44  employees for each hour worked in the counties of  Nassau,  Suffolk  and
    45  Westchester a wage not less than:
    46    $10.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2016,
    47    $11.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2017,
    48    $12.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2018,
    49    $13.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2019,
    50    $14.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2020,
    51    $15.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2021,
    52    $17.25 on and after January 1, 2025,
    53    $19.25 on and after January 1, 2026,
    54    $21.25 on and after January 1, 2027,
        A. 2204                             4

     1    or,  if  greater, such other wage as may be established by federal law
     2  pursuant to 29 U.S.C. section 206 or its successors or such  other  wage
     3  as may be established in accordance with the provisions of this article.
     4    (c)  Remainder  of  state.  Every  employer  shall  pay to each of its
     5  employees for each hour worked outside of the city of New York  and  the
     6  counties of Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester, a wage of not less than:
     7    $9.70 on and after December 31, 2016,
     8    $10.40 on and after December 31, 2017,
     9    $11.10 on and after December 31, 2018,
    10    $11.80 on and after December 31, 2019,
    11    $12.50 on and after December 31, 2020,
    12    [and  on each following December thirty-first, a wage published by the
    13  commissioner on or before October first, based on the then current mini-
    14  mum wage increased by a percentage determined by  the  director  of  the
    15  budget in consultation with the commissioner, with the result rounded to
    16  the nearest five cents, totaling no more than fifteen dollars, where the
    17  percentage increase shall be based on indices including, but not limited
    18  to,  (i)  the  rate of inflation for the most recent twelve month period
    19  ending June of that year based on the consumer price index for all urban
    20  consumers on a national and seasonally unadjusted basis  (CPI-U),  or  a
    21  successor  index as calculated by the United States department of labor,
    22  (ii) the rate of state personal income growth  for  the  prior  calendar
    23  year, or a successor index, published by the bureau of economic analysis
    24  of the United States department of commerce, or (iii) wage growth;]
    25    $13.20 on and after December 31, 2021,
    26    $14.20 on and after January 1, 2024,
    27    $16.00 on and after January 1, 2025,
    28    $18.00 on and after January 1, 2026,
    29    $20.00 on and after January 1, 2027,
    30    or,  if  greater, such other wage as may be established by federal law
    31  pursuant to 29 U.S.C. section 206 or its successors or such  other  wage
    32  as may be established in accordance with the provisions of this article.
    33    (d) Annual increases. On January first, two thousand twenty-eight, and
    34  on  each following January first, the wages set forth in paragraphs (a),
    35  (b) and (c) of this subdivision  and  any  other  wages  established  in
    36  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  this chapter and set forth in any
    37  minimum wage order, shall be the wages  published  by  the  commissioner
    38  pursuant to this paragraph. The commissioner shall publish such wages on
    39  or  before October first, two thousand twenty-seven, and on each follow-
    40  ing October first. The commissioner shall base each such published  wage
    41  on  each  then  current  wage  increased  by the sum of: (i) the rate of
    42  inflation, if greater than zero, as measured by the change in the  aver-
    43  age  for  the  twelve months through June of the current year divided by
    44  the average for the twelve months through June of the preceding year  in
    45  the consumer price index for all urban wage earners and clerical workers
    46  on  a  national  and seasonally unadjusted basis (CPI-W), or a successor
    47  index, as calculated by the United States department of labor; and  (ii)
    48  labor  productivity  growth,  if  greater  than zero, as measured by the
    49  change in the average quarterly index for the four quarters through  the
    50  second  quarter  of  the  current  year divided by the average quarterly
    51  index for the four quarters through the second quarter of the  preceding
    52  year  in  national  labor productivity (output per hour) of all employed
    53  persons in the nonfarm business sector, or a successor index, as  calcu-
    54  lated  by the United States department of labor, with the sum rounded to
    55  the nearest multiple of five cents. The commissioner shall publish  such
    56  wages  on  or before October first, two thousand twenty-seven, and on or
        A. 2204                             5

     1  before each following October first.  Provided, however, that  the  wage
     2  set  forth  for  paragraph (c) of this subdivision that the commissioner
     3  publishes on or before October first, two thousand twenty-seven to  take
     4  effect  on January first, two thousand twenty-eight shall be a wage that
     5  is equal to the wage that the commissioner publishes to take  effect  on
     6  January  first,  two thousand twenty-eight for paragraphs (a) and (b) of
     7  this subdivision. Thereafter, beginning with the wage that  the  commis-
     8  sioner  publishes  for  paragraph  (c)  of this subdivision on or before
     9  October first, two thousand  twenty-eight  to  take  effect  on  January
    10  first,  two thousand twenty-nine, and that the commissioner publishes on
    11  or before each following October first to take effect on each  following
    12  January  first, the commissioner shall adjust the current wage for para-
    13  graph (c) of this subdivision using the formula specified above in  this
    14  paragraph.  For  purposes  of  subdivision  two  of  this  section, each
    15  published wage that increases each then current minimum  wage  shall  be
    16  deemed  to  be  an  increase  in hourly minimum wage as provided in this
    17  subdivision.
    18    (e) The rates and schedules established [in paragraphs (a) and (b) of]
    19  under this subdivision for New York city and for  Nassau,  Suffolk,  and
    20  Westchester  counties  shall  not be deemed to be the minimum wage under
    21  this subdivision for purposes of the calculations specified in  subdivi-
    22  sions one and two of section five hundred twenty-seven of this chapter.
    23    § 4. Subdivision 6 of section 652 of the labor law is REPEALED.
    24    §  5. Section 665 of the labor law is renumbered section 669 and a new
    25  section 665 is added to read as follows:
    26    § 665. Local wage enforcement authority.  A city with a population  of
    27  one  million  or  more,  acting through its comptroller, may enforce and
    28  investigate violations of the  state  minimum  wage,  other  state  wage
    29  requirements  established  pursuant to this article, and any other local
    30  law, ordinance, or regulation requiring payment of  a  minimum  wage  or
    31  compensation, or establishing a labor standard, for work performed with-
    32  in  the city's geographic boundaries. The comptroller shall be empowered
    33  to adopt further enforcement provisions, remedies, penalties, and  other
    34  implementing regulations. Provided, however, the commissioner of consum-
    35  er  and worker protection of such a city or any successor to such office
    36  may also enforce and investigate violations of the  state  minimum  wage
    37  and  other  state wage requirements established pursuant to this article
    38  in the course of enforcing other laws that such commissioner is  charged
    39  with  enforcing  and  may  order  any  authorized remedies or penalties.
    40  Provided, further, nothing in this section shall limit the authority  of
    41  the  department  of  labor or any other government agency to enforce the
    42  state minimum wage and other state wage requirements established  pursu-
    43  ant to this article or any other law within the geographic boundaries of
    44  a city with a population of one million or more or elsewhere.
    45    § 6. This act shall take effect immediately.