The D.C. Council unanimously approved emergency legislation Tuesday postponing the implementation of ballot-approved Initiative 82 by a few months. D.C. employers are now required to raise the wages of their tipped workers from $5.35 per hour to $6 beginning in May. Tipped workers will then see their wages rise again in July to $8 per hour.
In November, D.C. residents overwhelmingly voted in favor of eliminating the tipped minimum wage over a five year period. The ballot measure outlined a wage increase beginning January 2023, going up by a dollar or two until 2027, which is when their base pay is supposed to be equal to the standard prevailing minimum wage.
But the ballot measure didn’t take effect at the start of the year, in part due to congressional interference. The city’s Home Rule Act requires every bill passed by the Council and signed by the mayor to be transmitted to Congress for a 30-day review period. But because of a leadership vacuum in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Council couldn’t send dozens of bills to Congress earlier this month, including Initiative 82; no one in the U.S. House of Representatives could officially receive the bills. There was no Speaker of the House until a week into January amid a leadership vote standoff among Republican lawmakers.
During Tuesday’s legislative meeting, At-Large Councilmember Anita Bonds, who is the new chair of the labor committee, said she introduced an emergency bill that would set a new effective date for...
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