LINCOLN — Nebraska counties could raise the minimum wage for people working within their borders under a bill heard Monday by the Legislature's Business and Labor Committee.

State Sen. Eliot Bostar of Lincoln introduced Legislative Bill 935, saying his goal is to let county leaders set wages that make sense for the local economy and local cost of living.

"This legislation is about local control," he said. "It doesn't make sense for that wage to be the same in the middle of Omaha and in downtown Alliance."

By itself, the proposal would not change minimum wages, Bostar said. That would have to be done through an ordinance adopted by the county board. But he noted there is pressure to increase wages as employers scramble to fill jobs in a pandemic-driven economy.

There is also an initiative petition drive under way that seeks to step up the state minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026, with cost-of-living adjustments in future years. A ballot initiative was used to set the current minimum wage at $9 an hour.

Under LB 935, counties could exceed the state minimum wage but could not go below that level. The bill would allow employers to seek exemptions for employees who work in multiple counties, if paying different wage levels to those employees would be too burdensome.

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