By Katharine DeRosa, Capital News Service
RICHMOND — Two bills introduced by Republicans to halt future minimum wage increases have advanced to the House floor.
Minimum wage in Virginia increased to $11 an hour on Jan. 1 and is set to increase to $12 next January.
The House Commerce and Energy committee approved House Bill 320, introduced by Del. Nicholas J. Freitas (R-Culpeper), and HB 296, introduced by Del. Joseph P. McNamara (R-Roanoke). Both bills would eliminate scheduled future increases to the current minimum wage law.
McNamara’s bill was amended to include payment for health care benefits as long as the hourly minimum wage is not below $11. Sen. Mark J. Peake (R-Lynchburg) introduced a similar bill in the Senate, which was subsequently shot down by Democrats.
Both House measures advanced out of committee on a 12-9 vote along party lines, with Republicans holding the majority.
“I know what it is to work for minimum wage,” Freitas said during the subcommittee meeting. “In fact, there’s probably a couple times I was working for a little bit less than it; I was actually happy to have that job.”
Increasing the minimum wage would take away people’s ability to bargain with employers for a wage they are willing to accept, according to Freitas.
Freitas said the state government should not “arbitrarily” increase the minimum wage. He told the panel, when asked, that he does not plan on rolling back the current minimum wage, due to...
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