"I'm his god-parent and I love him. He is very talented and he loves his job. ... he loves telling you, he's working," Newman told fellow members of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, his voice cracking a bit.
"I have great fear if we go in and place these limits as opposed to the current requirements, he is not going to have that job," he said.
Newman's god-child isn't working in the kind of sheltered workshop that is allowed to pay employees less than the minimum wage, under a law dating back to the 1930s and that Del. Patrick Hope, D-Arlington, is proposing to eliminate in Virginia.
Hope's bill would gradually raise wages for people now paid subminimum wages, to $9.50 an hour as of July 1; $10.50 an hour as of July 1 2024; $11.50 an hour as of July 1 2025, and at the state minimum wage as of July 1 2026.
Virginia's minimum wage now stands at $12 an hour. It is set to rise to $13.50 in 2025 and $15 in 2026.
"I know we all, on both sides, love these people; the patron I know you do too and you want them to be paid more," Newman said.
"My fear is that he's simply not going to have a job, we're not going to force those employers to hire him, they're not going to have the incentive to hire him, and he's not going to make it," he said. "I appreciate what you are trying to do but to me it just hurts too much."
State Sen. Lionell Spruill Sr., D-Chesapeake, said he was worried about a granddaughter who is not being paid minimum wage.
"I wouldn't bring this bill if I...
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