Three United States senators sent a letter Tuesday to Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred asking whether a new Florida law undermines the league's collective-bargaining agreement with minor league players and could "put at risk the gains made by minor league players to finally earn a living wage."
The letter, signed by Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado) and obtained by ESPN, questioned why MLB lobbied Florida lawmakers for a broad exemption to the state's minimum-wage laws while negotiating the historic CBA that was ratified in April and drastically increased player pay.
In June, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law S.B. 892, which exempts minor league players from minimum wage and maximum hour laws.
Previously MLB had lobbied officials to pass laws that cut minor league players out of federal minimum-wage requirements. While those efforts failed, lawmakers included the language -- known as the Save America's Pastime Act -- in a 2018 spending bill. At the time, MLB was defending itself against a class-action lawsuit by players that the league had violated wage-and-hour laws. MLB paid $185 million to settle the case in July 2022.
The Florida senate introduced the bill in mid-February, five months after MLB voluntarily recognized the new minor league unit of the MLBPA and in the middle of discussions between the league and union on...
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