Minimum wage hike in Virginia’s future?

Virginia workers might get a boost to their paychecks if the General Assembly approves an increase to the minimum wage.
The only surviving wage bill in the General Assembly proposes raising the current rate from $5.15 to $6.50 an hour. This would become effective July 1 unless federal law exceeds $6.50.
Ten bills before the legislature this session proposed an increase. All of the bills were killed except one, SB 1237, which is co-sponsored by Sens. Charles Colgan, D-Manassas, and H. Russell Potts Jr., R-Winchester.
Delegate Kenneth Plum, D-Reston, said Virginia needs to increase the rate because there are many working Virginians living below the national poverty level.
“We’re way behind in raising the rates,” Plum said.
Not all legislators are certain about voting “yes” to the proposal. Delegate Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, said the minimum-wage raise was necessary, but the U.S. Congress should handle increasing minimum wage on a national level.
“I sincerely believe this is a federal issue,” Kilgore said. “I believe Congress is about ready to act, and President Bush said he would sign the bill, and I don’t want us to get in a situation where we might be inconsistent with federal law.”
Plum said the bill could serve as a back-up plan if Congress does not approve a raise to the national minimum wage.
“We can’t be sure of what Congress is going to do, so that shouldn’t keep us from acting,” Plum said. “We need to go ahead.”
Kilgore, whose district lies on the border of Tennessee, said raising the minimum wage might hurt his constituents.
“If the minimum wage is not changed in Tennessee but is changed in Virginia, it (the new law) may have the unintended consequence of driving jobs from my part of Virginia over into Tennessee,” Kilgore said. “I don’t want that. I’d rather have a uniformed minimum wage across the country. That way, everybody can compete fairly.”
Tennessee, unlike Virginia, does not have a minimum wage law, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Virginia is one of the 15 states currently at the federal level of $5.15 an hour. West Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina have exceeded the federal rate.
Delegate Dwight C. Jones, D-Richmond, supports the bill and said it would be the beginning of a continuous process.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Jones said. “We want to keep people equal with the national level. If we can only get a dollar this year, we’ll be back next year trying to get the other dollar.”
Jones sponsored another House bill that intended to raise the minimum wage. His bill was similar to the bill in Congress.
“Of course, we’re waiting to see what happens on the federal level,” Jones said. “The idea this year was in case the federal law didn’t kick in . we’d have something on the burner.”
Congress also is proposing a minimum-wage raise this year, which would be effective July 1. The measure passed the House of Representatives. If the U.S. Senate approves the bill, the minimum wage would increase to $5.85 an hour 60 days after passage. One year later, the rate would rise to $6.55 an hour. Eventually, in 2009, the wage would go up to $7.25 an hour.
The national minimum wage was last raised in 1996, from $4.25 to $5.15.