Dec. 8—The county's minimum wage is set to rise to $16 per hour by 2026 after the Howard County Council voted 4-1 on Tuesday in support of legislation introduced by members Opel Jones and Christiana Rigby.
County Executive Calvin Ball will decide whether to sign the bill into law, making Howard the county with the highest minimum wage in Maryland.
According to the Maryland Center for Economic Policy, the bill "will benefit one in four employees who work in Howard County, which equates to 40,000 working people."
The current minimum wage in Howard is $11.75 per hour. Maryland minimum wage rates increase to $12.50 per hour in January and are scheduled to increase to $14 per hour by 2024 for businesses with more than 15 employees. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.
In casting his vote in favor of the bill, Jones called it an "historic victory." Jones was voted the new council chair at the beginning of the meeting, replacing council member Liz Walsh who finished her one-year term as chair.
"I am ecstatic about the bill," Jones said. "The impact of this legislation will relieve the financial burden of tens of thousands of Howard County workers.
In a news release sent following the meeting, Jones said the legislation would "benefit 25% of the county's Asian and Pacific Islander workers, 30% of the county's working women, 33% of the county's African American workers, 51% of the county's Latinx workers, and 75% of workers in low-income families. Leading and...
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