HOWARD COUNTY, MD — Howard County may soon have the highest minimum wage in the state if County Executive Calvin Ball signs Council Bill 82-2021 into law.
The measure would push the dollar amount up to $16 per hour by Jan. 1, 2025, for businesses with 15 or more employees and to $16 by Jan. 1, 2026, for businesses with 14 or fewer employees.
The Howard County Council voted 4-1 to pass the legislation, which was introduced by council members Open Jones and Christiana Rigby.
The current minimum wage in Howard County sits at $11.75 per hour. Maryland's minimum wage rate will increase to $12.50 per hour in January and is 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.
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."
Local business leaders spoke in favor of the bill, noting that minimum wage increases would boost consumer spending, strengthen local workforces and help build a widely shared economic recovery.
We’ve spotted several social media posts sharing videos and stills supposedly of a power plant in Israel’s northern city of Haifa being “blown up” by an Iranian missile. While there have been repor...