The efforts of a “Raise the Wage Ohio” coalition to get a $15 minimum-wage constitutional amendment on the Ohio ballot in 2024 just moved a bit closer to reality.
On Oct. 28, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost approved the group’s petition language after shooting it down earlier in the month.
In approving the petition, Yost concluded it presented a “fair and truthful statement” of what the petitioners seek to achieve -- which is a phased-in process, starting Jan. 1, 2025, of raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2028.
The state’s minimum wage, now pegged to inflation per a 2006 constitutional amendment, is slated to rise 80 cents on Jan. 1, 2023, to $10.10 an hour.
Besides phasing in a $15 minimum wage, the “Raise the Wage Ohio” petition also seeks to close certain loopholes in state minimum-wage law, including exceptions for workers under age 16 or those with disabilities.
Backers also want to eliminate the differential in minimum wage for tipped workers -- currently slated to rise 40 cents to $5.05 next year. The proposal would phase in increases in tipped workers’ minimum wage, reaching $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2029 -- with tips on top.
Also starting Jan. 1, 2029, the $15 minimum for all workers would start to rise again with inflation, per the proposal.
Family-owned businesses with family member employees would be exempt.
The petition’s next hurdle, cleveland.com’s Laura Hancock reports, is a determination by the Ohio Ballot Board on whether the...
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