Louisiana's poorest workers could get a pay hike under a bill that remained alive during a Memorial Day hearing in the Legislature, though it faces a nearly impossible gauntlet with less than two weeks left in the lawmaking session.
The Senate Finance Committee advanced "without action" Democratic New Orleans Sen. Gary Carter's Senate Bill 149 to create a state minimum wage of $10 per hour in 2024 that would rise to $14 per hour in 2028, meaning the panel sent it to the full Senate without a favorable action.
"It needs to be established into law," said Democratic Shreveport Sen. Greg Tarver.
But Carter's bill faces a steep climb in the Senate, which is controlled by a Republican super majority. And if it somehow clears the Senate, the measure faces almost certain doom in the House Labor Committee, which killed a nearly identical bill by Democratic Alexandria Rep. Ed Larvadain's earlier on a 9-5 vote.
Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards has supported establishing a state minimum wage for all eight years of his two terms to no avail.
Carter emphasized that there are workers who are trying to make ends meet on the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, which hasn't changed since 2008.
"There are people, not just students, relying on minimum wage," he said.
One in five people in Louisiana live below the poverty rate.
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