GOP lawmaker kills $12 min. wage bill to protect jobs… queue hypocritical Democrat outrage
Republican State Senator Michael Baumgartner—chair of the Senate’s Commerce and Labor Committee—last week defied the threats made by Seattle billionaire Nick Hanauer. As Shift reported, Hanauer attempted to blackmail lawmakers into passing a House bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage – which is already the highest in the nation – to an even higher $12 per hour by vowing to pursue a statewide $16 minimum wage initiative in 2016 if they did not. Baumgartner conducted a public hearing on the bill, and then decided not to advance the legislation.
The Freedom Foundation points out that Baumgartner’s decision prompted outrage from Democrats. The Senate Democrat Caucus tweeted,
Senate GOP kills #RaiseTheWage, #PaidSickLeave, #EqualPay bills. They stood w/ corporate special interests, against working families #waleg
— WA Senate Democrats (@WASenDemocrats) April 1, 2015
Of course, Democrats’ outrage is despite the fact that they would not give the state Senate’s pro-worker reform bills the time of day. House Democrats did not even give the bills the courtesy of a public hearing, as Baumgartner did with the wage bill. The Freedom Foundation,
“Sponsored by Sen. Randi Becker (R-Eatonville), SB 5226 passed out of the Senate on a bipartisan vote. The legislation would require unions representing public employees in Washington (like the 80,000-member Washington Education Association) to be financially transparent with the public and the members they represent.
“Once in the House, however, the legislation died quietly without a hearing in the Labor Committee. Rep. Mike Sells (D-Everett), the committee chair, is past president of the WEA-affiliated Everett Education Association and currently serves as the secretary-treasurer of the Snohomish County Labor Council.”
You can check out similar bills House Democrats completely shunned this legislative session here.
