Bill Text: NY S03062 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended

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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 17-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-11-09 - PRINT NUMBER 3062D [S03062 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S03062-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         3062--D

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 27, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by Sens. RAMOS, BIAGGI, BRISPORT, CLEARE, COONEY, GOUNARDES,
          JACKSON, KAVANAGH, KRUEGER, REICHLIN-MELNICK -- read twice and ordered
          printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor --
          committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as  amended  and
          recommitted  to  said committee -- committee discharged, bill amended,
          ordered reprinted as amended and  recommitted  to  said  committee  --
          recommitted  to  the Committee on Labor in accordance with Senate Rule
          6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted  as
          amended  and  recommitted  to  said committee -- committee discharged,
          bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended  and  recommitted  to  said
          committee

        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

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06653-22-2
        S. 3062--D                          2

     1  2027, or even more if consumer price inflation does not moderate in 2023
     2  and  2024 as expected. This steep decline in the minimum wage is revers-
     3  ing the historic reductions in poverty and earnings inequality that  the
     4  state  achieved  with  the  $15  minimum  wage.  And even once inflation
     5  returns to more typical levels, workers will continue to lose real wages
     6  as long as our minimum wage remains stagnant.
     7    While in 2016 New York led the nation as the first state  to  adopt  a
     8  $15  minimum  wage, today it has fallen behind the many other cities and
     9  states that are raising their minimum wages well beyond $15. About fifty
    10  cities and counties and two states will have minimum wages above $15  an
    11  hour  as of January 2023, and a growing group will have minimum wages of
    12  more than $17 or $18 an hour. The fact that Yakima, Washington,  Fresno,
    13  California, and Denver, Colorado will all have higher minimum wages than
    14  New York shows how far pay has fallen in the state.
    15    To fix this, first, the value of New York city's minimum wage needs to
    16  be  restored  by  "catching it up" to where it would have been if it had
    17  been adjusted steadily each year since 2019 to  keep  pace  with  rising
    18  prices  and workforce productivity. That translates to raising the mini-
    19  mum wage to $21.25 an hour by 2026.
    20    Second, because the state minimum wage in  New  York  city's  suburbs,
    21  including  Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester counties, is also stalled at
    22  $15 and those regions have housing and living costs that are  almost  as
    23  high  as  New  York  city, the minimum wage there should increase at the
    24  same rate.
    25    Third, the minimum wage in the remainder  of  the  state  should  also
    26  eventually catch up with the state-wide rate, but at a slower pace since
    27  wages and costs are lower there.
    28    Finally, once the minimum wage across the state catches up, it must be
    29  automatically  adjusted  or  "indexed" each year so that it doesn't fall
    30  behind again. That is the approach that 18 states and  Washington,  D.C.
    31  are  already using to keep their minimum wages up to date. For adjusting
    32  the minimum wage each year, the legislature should adopt the same formu-
    33  la that the department of labor and the  division  of  the  budget  used
    34  successfully  to  increase  New  York's upstate minimum wage in 2022 and
    35  2023. They have been adjusting the minimum wage so that it keeps up both
    36  with rising prices and also with any increases in  worker  productivity.
    37  This  best  practice  ensures that underpaid workers' paychecks maintain
    38  their purchasing power and, that when there are gains in worker  produc-
    39  tivity,  that  workers  too  share  in those benefits. This approach has
    40  resulted in steady, moderate increases in the upstate wage of  70  cents
    41  in  2022,  and  $1.00  in 2023. It should be made permanent and expanded
    42  state-wide.
    43    Many of our lowest paid jobs  across  the  state  are  publicly-funded
    44  human  services jobs, in fields such as home care, childcare, and mental
    45  health care, where workers provide essential services on  which  we  all
    46  rely.  But  the  eroded minimum wage is holding down pay for these vital
    47  caregivers and making it impossible to fill these demanding jobs at  the
    48  same  time  that  demand  for services has exploded as the state's popu-
    49  lation ages and the pandemic has stressed families and  communities.  To
    50  address  this  critical  worker  shortage, we need to not just raise the
    51  minimum wage significantly, but also to provide the state funding neces-
    52  sary to finance those raises in the state and  city-contracted  programs
    53  that employ these essential workers.
    54    New  York's  experience  phasing  in  the $15 minimum wage showed that
    55  significant wage increases have been manageable for employers  and  that
    56  higher  paychecks  have  put money back into local communities, boosting
        S. 3062--D                          3

     1  consumer spending at neighborhood businesses.  Studies  by  the  federal
     2  reserve  bank  of New York of the impact in upstate counties, and by the
     3  New York city-based new school both found that New York's  last  minimum
     4  wage increase raised pay significantly without hurting employment - even
     5  in  counties  along  the  New York-Pennsylvania border where the minimum
     6  wage in our neighboring state is just $7.25.
     7    With the value of New York's minimum wage plummeting and rising prices
     8  squeezing New York's working families,  we  cannot  afford  to  wait  to
     9  restore a strong minimum wage for all New Yorkers.
    10    §  3.  Subdivision  1  of  section 652 of the labor law, as amended by
    11  section 1 of part K of chapter 54 of the laws of  2016,  is  amended  to
    12  read as follows:
    13    1.  Statutory.  Every  employer shall pay to each of its employees for
    14  each hour worked a wage of not less than:
    15    $4.25 on and after April 1, 1991,
    16    $5.15 on and after March 31, 2000,
    17    $6.00 on and after January 1, 2005,
    18    $6.75 on and after January 1, 2006,
    19    $7.15 on and after January 1, 2007,
    20    $8.00 on and after December 31, 2013,
    21    $8.75 on and after December 31, 2014,
    22    $9.00 on and after December 31, 2015, and until December 31, 2016, or,
    23  if greater, such other wage as may be established by federal law  pursu-
    24  ant to 29 U.S.C. section 206 or its successors or such other wage as may
    25  be established in accordance with the provisions of this article.
    26    (a) New York City. [(i) Large employers.] Every employer [of eleven or
    27  more  employees] shall pay to each of its employees for each hour worked
    28  in the city of New York a wage of not less than:
    29    $11.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2016,
    30    $13.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2017,
    31    $15.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2018,
    32    $17.25 on and after January 1, 2024,
    33    $19.25 on and after January 1, 2025,
    34    $21.25 on and after January 1, 2026, or, if greater, such  other  wage
    35  as  may be established by federal law pursuant to 29 U.S.C.  section 206
    36  or its successors or such other wage as may be established in accordance
    37  with the provisions of this article.
    38    [(ii) Small employers. Every employer of ten or less  employees  shall
    39  pay  to  each  of  its employees for each hour worked in the city of New
    40  York a wage of not less than:
    41    $10.50 per hour on and after December 31, 2016,
    42    $12.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2017,
    43    $13.50 per hour on and after December 31, 2018,
    44    $15.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2019,
    45    or, if greater, such other wage as may be established by  federal  law
    46  pursuant  to 29 U.S.C.  section 206 or its successors or such other wage
    47  as may be established in accordance with the provisions  of  this  arti-
    48  cle.]
    49    (b)  Remainder  of  downstate. Every employer shall pay to each of its
    50  employees for each hour worked in the counties of  Nassau,  Suffolk  and
    51  Westchester a wage not less than:
    52    $10.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2016,
    53    $11.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2017,
    54    $12.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2018,
    55    $13.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2019,
    56    $14.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2020,
        S. 3062--D                          4

     1    $15.00 per hour on and after December 31, 2021,
     2    $17.25 on and after January 1, 2024,
     3    $19.25 on and after January 1, 2025,
     4    $21.25 on and after January 1, 2026,
     5    or,  if  greater, such other wage as may be established by federal law
     6  pursuant to 29 U.S.C. section 206 or its successors or such  other  wage
     7  as may be established in accordance with the provisions of this article.
     8    (c)  Remainder  of  state.  Every  employer  shall  pay to each of its
     9  employees for each hour worked outside of the city of New York  and  the
    10  counties of Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester, a wage of not less than:
    11    $9.70 on and after December 31, 2016,
    12    $10.40 on and after December 31, 2017,
    13    $11.10 on and after December 31, 2018,
    14    $11.80 on and after December 31, 2019,
    15    $12.50 on and after December 31, 2020,
    16    [and  on each following December thirty-first, a wage published by the
    17  commissioner on or before October first, based on the then current mini-
    18  mum wage increased by a percentage determined by  the  director  of  the
    19  budget in consultation with the commissioner, with the result rounded to
    20  the nearest five cents, totaling no more than fifteen dollars, where the
    21  percentage increase shall be based on indices including, but not limited
    22  to,  (i)  the  rate of inflation for the most recent twelve month period
    23  ending June of that year based on the consumer price index for all urban
    24  consumers on a national and seasonally unadjusted basis  (CPI-U),  or  a
    25  successor  index as calculated by the United States department of labor,
    26  (ii) the rate of state personal income growth  for  the  prior  calendar
    27  year, or a successor index, published by the bureau of economic analysis
    28  of the United States department of commerce, or (iii) wage growth;]
    29    $13.20 on and after December 31, 2021,
    30    $14.20 on and after January 1, 2023,
    31    $16.00 on and after January 1, 2024,
    32    $18.00 on and after January 1, 2025,
    33    $20.00 on and after January 1, 2026,
    34    or,  if  greater, such other wage as may be established by federal law
    35  pursuant to 29 U.S.C. section 206 or its successors or such  other  wage
    36  as may be established in accordance with the provisions of this article.
    37    (d) Annual increases. On January first, two thousand twenty-seven, and
    38  on  each following January first, the wages set forth in paragraphs (a),
    39  (b) and (c) of this subdivision  and  any  other  wages  established  in
    40  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  this chapter and set forth in any
    41  minimum wage order, shall be the wages  published  by  the  commissioner
    42  pursuant to this paragraph. The commissioner shall publish such wages on
    43  or  before October first, two thousand twenty-six, and on each following
    44  October first. The commissioner shall base each such published  wage  on
    45  each  then  current  wage  increased  by  the  sum  of:  (i) the rate of
    46  inflation, if greater than zero, as measured by the change in the  aver-
    47  age  for  the  twelve months through June of the current year divided by
    48  the average for the twelve months through June of the preceding year  in
    49  the consumer price index for all urban wage earners and clerical workers
    50  on  a  national  and seasonally unadjusted basis (CPI-W), or a successor
    51  index, as calculated by the United States department of labor; and  (ii)
    52  labor  productivity  growth,  if  greater  than zero, as measured by the
    53  change in the average quarterly index for the four quarters through  the
    54  second  quarter  of  the  current  year divided by the average quarterly
    55  index for the four quarters through the second quarter of the  preceding
    56  year  in  national  labor productivity (output per hour) of all employed
        S. 3062--D                          5

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