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150 People Show Up at Public Hearing on Minimum Wage

Hearing on Minimum Wage

More than 150 people signed up to speak about House Bill 295 last night at a public hearing.  The measure would allow the state to set a minimum wage and preempt counties that have higher wages.  Polk, Johnson, Linn and Wapello counties have already raised the minimum wage.  

Jessica Dunker was one of two people who spoke on favor of the measure. Dunker is with the Iowa Restaurant Association.  She said the state should set the minimum wage and not the counties.

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“To continue to be a vibrant and growing part of our state’s economy, we need statewide wage and employment solutions, not county-by-county mandates.”

Kelly Savage disagreed. She is the state director for the non-profit “Every Child Matters.”  Savage said a lot of people think that minimum wage only applies to teenagers, but that’s not the case.

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Kelly Savage is the state director of “Every Child Matters.”

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“Only 1-in-6 minimum wage workers are high school students, 31% of minimum wage workers are 30 or older.  30% of minimum wage workers are parents, so this affects our children too.”

Only about a third of the speakers had time to speak before the hearing ended.  The public hearing was one of three held yesterday at the statehouse.  The other two concerned the bill to dissolve the Des Moines Water Works and the effort to require a voter ID at Iowa polls.

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