Florida lawmakers work to ban local governments from implementing temperature protections for outdoor workers

Summer temps in Florida are regularly in the 90s.
(Photo by Xavier Coiffic, Unsplash)

Some Florida lawmakers are working to pass a bill that removes temperature protection regulations for employees. That same bill also would ban local "living wage" ordinances, which create higher minimum wage standards than the state requirement. "A measure that will ban local governments from passing heat-protection ordinances inspired strong emotions from the public . . . ," reports Mitch Perry for the Florida Phoenix. "The bill also eliminates living wage ordinances that require companies that receive government contracts to pay their employees more than the state's minimum wage (currently $12 an hour)."

This past fall, the Miami-Dade County Commission had planned a vote on a local ordinance that "would protect outdoor workers in the agriculture and construction industries, which, if passed, would be the first law of its kind in the South," Perry adds. "That proposal was introduced after at least two farmworkers died from excessive heat in South Florida earlier last year."

The Florida chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors pushed back against the local heat protection ordinance, saying regulation "inconsistencies" could cause more accidents. Meanwhile, local businesses "lined up behind the provision that would prohibit cities and counties from creating 'livable wage' ordinances for their contractors and subcontractors," Perry explains. "[These] ordinances are now in effect in 11 local governments in the state to combat higher living costs."

North Miami-Dade County Democratic Rep. Dotie Joseph "blasted the proposal, saying that her GOP colleagues were being negligent in taking away Miami-Dade's or any other local government's ability to protect outdoor workers," Perry reports. Joseph told reporters, "When local governments try to do something about it so that it doesn't happen again, here we show up at the state level and say, 'no, we don't mind a couple of more people dying.' That's basically what we're saying, functionally. So we're okay with workers dying."

Farm economists call out land-grant schools and states for not keeping higher education accessible to rural students

Many rural students were once able to affordably graduate from college because of the low tuition and high acceptance rate of land-grant universities. But higher tuition and lagging wages, along with lower acceptance rates, make it more difficult for them to work their way through school or even get in, University of Tennessee agricultural economists Harwood D. Schaffer and Daryll E. Ray write in their latest "Policy Pennings" column. (UT is a land-grant university.)

It shouldn't be that way, they write, capitalizing the key term: "From our perspective. Land Grants are not like other institutions of higher education; they are held to a higher standard of responsibility. They are as essential as public elementary, middle, and high schools. Other state institutions of higher education have a role to play, but Land Grants have a singular set of responsibilities."

Such schools' primary responsibility ought to be educating youth and interested adults of the state, which can't happen with low acceptance rates, Schaffer and Ray write. Another problem: it's much harder for students to work their way through college and graduate with little to no debt since tuition has far outpaced minimum and prevailing wages for entry-level work. 

"State governments must step up and fully fund the educational and basic research functions of their respective Land Grant institutions," Schaffer and Ray write. "One of the reasons we have seen tuition hikes is the failure of federal and state governments to provide their share of educational costs for students attending Land Grants and other state institutions of higher education." Read more here.

Rural West Virginians discuss their hopes and fears over the minimum-wage increase debate

"While an effort to raise the national minimum wage from its current $7.25 level without Republican votes was blocked in the Senate this month, congressional Democrats have signaled they plan to try again," Jason Lange and Makini Brice report for Reuters. "The stakes are perhaps nowhere better illustrated than in West Virginia. Its 16 percent poverty rate is among the nation’s highest and its low wages - half its workers earn less than $16.31 an hour - mean it could see some of the biggest risks and rewards of such a move."

Raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2025 would cost the nation between 1.4 million and 2.7 million jobs, as businesses struggle to cope with higher operating costs, according to a February estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. But "in Republican-dominated states, where wages are generally lower than in Democratic-leaning states that are home to America’s biggest cities, the biggest concern is retaining jobs, not raising wages." Lange and Brice report. West Virginia's unemployment rate rose above 15% during the pandemic, higher than the national average. The state's current 6.5% unemployment rate is also higher than the national average. 

"Some experts said job losses could be sharper in rural areas because it will be harder for businesses in small-town America to raise prices enough to offset dramatic increases in pay," Lange and Brice report. For instance, one restaurant owner told Reuters that raising the minimum wage to $15 would be the "death knell" for her business. She couldn't raise the prices on her food enough to cover that wage, and expects she would have to lay off workers.

However, proponents of raising the minimum wage say it won't necessarily result in job cuts, and note that the CBO study projected that increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 would raise the incomes of 17 million Americans and bring 900,000 out of poverty, Lange and Brice report. 

West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, "a moderate Democrat who opposes the $15 target ... is emerging as a key force in the narrowly divided chamber. Manchin, whose support would be crucial to the success of any legislation on the issue, says he would back an $11 minimum wage, still a more than 50% increase from where it has stood since 2009," Lange and Brice report. "Five Senate Republicans - including West Virginia’s other senator, Shelley Moore Capito - have proposed an increase to $10, suggesting compromise of some kind is possible."

Here's what's in Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion package to attack coronavirus, provide relief and stimulate economy

 President-elect Joe Biden proposed a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus and pandemic package Thursday night. Here's some of what's in the "American Rescue Plan," according to CNN:

• $20 billion for a national vaccination program, to speed immunity and help the economy.
• $50 billion for coronavirus testing, including buying tests, expanding testing capability, and helping schools implement testing; the hiring of 100,000 public health workers, expansion of community health centers and health services on tribal lands. It would also provide support for long-term care facilities experiencing outbreaks and prisons for mitigation strategies.
• $1,400 stimulus checks per person to eligible recipients. Some who didn't receive earlier stimulus checks would be included, such as adult dependents and spouses of undocumented immigrants.
• Raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour and end the tipped minimum wage and the sub-minimum wage for people with disabilities.
• $400 a week in federal unemployment aid which, along with two key pandemic unemployment programs, would be extended through September.
• $25 billion in rental assistance for low- and moderate-income households who have lost jobs during the pandemic. That's in addition to the $25 billion approved in December.
• $5 billion to help struggling renters pay their utility bills.
• $5 billion for state and local governments to help those at risk of homelessness.
• Expand the federal eviction moratorium, set to expire Jan. 31, to Sept. 30, and allow people with federally guaranteed mortgages to apply for forbearance until Sept. 30.
• A $25 billion emergency fund and $15 billion more for an existing program to help child-care providers, including family child-care homes, to pay for rent, utilities, payroll, and increased costs associated with the pandemic, such as personal protective equipment.
• Expand the child-care tax credit for one year so families will get back as much as half of their spending on child care for children under age 13.
• Boost the child tax credit to $3,600 for children under age 6 and $3,000 for those ages 6-17 for one year, and make it fully refundable.
• Raise the maximum Earned Income Tax Credit for a year to nearly $1,500 for child-free adults, and raise the income limit of the credit to about $21,000 and expand the age range of eligibility to cover older workers.
• Subsidize through September the premiums of those who lost work-based health insurance.
• Increase and expand the Affordable Care Act's premium subsidies so enrollees don't have to pay more than 8.5% of their income for coverage.
• $4 billion for mental-health and substance abuse disorder services.
• $20 billion for veterans' health care.
• Reinstate and extend through Sept. 30 the paid sick and family leave benefits that expired in December.
• Extend the benefit to workers employed at businesses with fewer than 50 or more than 500 workers, as well as federal employees excluded from the original program.
• People who are sick, quarantining, or caring for a child whose school is closed would receive 14 weeks of paid leave. The government would reimburse employers with fewer than 500 workers for the full cost of providing the leave.
• $15 billion for a new grant program for small business owners, separate from the Paycheck Protection Program.
• $35 billion for some state, local, tribal and non-profit financing programs that make low-interest loans and provide venture capital to entrepreneurs.
• $170 billion to K-12 schools, colleges and universities to help them safely reopen or facilitate distance learning.

Rural-urban statehouse divisions foreshadow policy fights

Blue counties got bluer and red counties got redder in the November elections, widening ideological divides as Democrats and Republicans dug in and became less likely to compromise on pressing issues in the 2021 legislative sessions, including dealing with covid-19 and budget deficits," Elaine Povich reports for Stateline. That ideological divide, often along rural-urban lines, foreshadows "the rancorous redistricting process that will set political boundaries for the next decade, particularly in states where the governor is of one party and the legislature the other."

The deepening political divide could affect a wide range of issues, from state budgets, minimum wages, marijuana, infrastructure funding, and more, Povich reports.

In Wisconsin, for example, political entrenchment is hampering pandemic response. "Democratic Gov. Tony Evers plans a new executive order requiring a mask mandate into 2021 and called on Republicans to drop a lawsuit against it," Povich reports. "Wisconsin is one of a handful of states without a statewide pandemic plan, due to GOP efforts to thwart Evers’ proposals, except for the mask mandate, so far."

Ballot measure roundup: Coloradans approve restoration of gray wolves, paid family and medical leave

Colorado voters approved the restoration of gray wolves and mandated paid family and medical leave Tuesday, the first time any state has done such things in a referendum, on Tuesday.

Those were just two of 184 statewide ballot measures, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Here are a few others, courtesy of NCSL:

• Arizona, Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota approved efforts to legalize recreational marijuana, while voters in South Dakota and Mississippi approved medical marijuana programs.
• Oregonians decriminalized small amounts of certain controlled substances, such as heroin and cocaine, and the Beaver State also legalized psilocybin—become the first state ever to do so. The drug comes from mushrooms and is used in rituals by some Native American tribes.
• Ranked-choice voting, which was adopted in Maine recently, failed in Massachusetts and looks likely to fail in Alaska.
• Virginia voters adopted a redistricting commission, and that change means most states will now have a commission of some kind, though some are merely advisory, or only come into being if the legislature fails to pass maps.
• Voters approved taxes on tobacco and electronic-cigarette products in Colorado and Oregon. Washington will require public schools to provide comprehensive sex education beginning in 2022. 
• California voters rejected stricter parole and sentencing policies and stopped the legislature’s efforts to replace cash bail with pretrial risk assessments.
• Kentucky passed Marsy’s law, the crime victims’ bill of rights.
• Florida voters raised the minimum wage.
• An effort to overturn California’s affirmative action ban failed.
• Two “Stand Your Ground” Rights measures pass in Alabama.
• Mississippians approved the state’s new magnolia flag design, which was put before voters after the legislature decided to replace the previous flag feature the confederate battle emblem.

Updates are at NCSL’s State Elections 2020 webpage and statewide ballot measures database.

Oregon implements different minimum wages for urban, suburban and rural areas

Oregon now has a minimum wage that divides the state into urban, standard, and rural areas, with different minimum wages for each area. The wage increased July 1 for the second year in a row, part of a multi-year plan to gradually bring up the minimum wage to account for cost-of-living increases, Anna Marum reports for Oregon Live.

In the Portland metropolitan area, where living expenses are higher, the wage increased to $11.25. In small city and suburban areas, called "Standard," the wage increased to $10.25. And in rural areas, the wage went up to $10.

Credit: Oregon Live 

Farmers are concerned about the wage increase, saying that they can't raise prices since their crops are part of a slumping global commodities market. Jenny Dresler, director of state public policy for the Oregon Farm Bureau, told Marum in an interview that many farmers have been trying to cut costs since the first minimum wage increase under the tiered system in 2016.

"Some are scaling back employee hours and turning to family to pitch in, or doing more of the work themselves. Others have given up on crops that need to be hand-picked, such as tree fruits and berries, in favor of those that are less labor intensive," Dresler told Marum. "As the cost of production increases and the cost of commodities stays flat, they're going to have to automate more, or they're not going to make it."

Ballot-measure campaigns raise a lot; have no limits, little regulation on contributions

About $379 million has been raised for and against 165 state ballot measures—74 are the result of citizen petitions— in 35 states, Elaine Povich reports for Stateline. Nearly half of all funds—$155 million—has gone to healthcare issues. Coming in a distant second is energy ($19.7 million), followed by marijuana ($19.2 million), firearms ($12.4 million), law enforcement ($6.8 million) and minimum wage ($3.2 million).

The state ballot campaigns are attracting widespread interest from corporations, unions, wealthy individuals and special interest groups, "as referendums increasingly replace legislatures as a battleground for people who want to make state policy, on issues ranging from legalizing marijuana and raising the minimum wage to gun control and drug pricing, and from tobacco taxes to solar energy and education," Povich writes. The main reason is that  "there’s no limit and little regulation on contributions to referendum campaigns." (Stateline chart)

California has attracted the majority of money, $313 million, with more than $96 million for "a drug pricing initiative, which would require that state agencies pay no more than the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for prescription drugs," Povich writes. Most of the money, $86 million, has come from the opposition, mostly from drug makers.

While minimum wage ranks seventh in money raised, it's an issue on ballots in five states—Arizona, Colorado, Maine, South Dakota and Washington, Povich writes. The measure on every state except South Dakota would increase the minimum wage. (Read more)

Fact checking claims at Democratic convention on minimum wage, free college tuition, top 1%

Last week we took a look at how fact checkers rated statements made in speeches at the Republican National Convention. This week we look at the Democratic National Convention. If you want to re-publish them, we encourage you to look at reports by The Washington Post's Fact Checker unit, PolitiFact and FactCheck.org for full context and things you may want to add. (CBS image: Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.))

One of the biggest issues on Monday was minimum wage, which was brought up at least three times. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said, “Donald Trump actually stood on a debate stage and said that wages are ‘too high’.” Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) said, “This November, we have a choice. You can choose a candidate who’s only out for himself, who wants to get rid of the federal minimum wage, and who would cut taxes for the richest Americans at the expense of the middle class.”  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said, "Trump wants to get rid of the federal minimum wage.”

Post fact-checkers Glenn Kessler and Michelle Ye Hee Le write, "Trump has made contradictory statements on the minimum wage, so here is some necessary context to the claims by Gillibrand, Casey and Warren. During a November 2015 Republican primary debate, Trump was asked whether he was 'sympathetic to the protesters cause since a $15 wage works out to about $31,000 a year.'"

Trump said he couldn't be sympathetic because “We are a country that is being beaten on every front economically, militarily. . . . [With] taxes too high, wages too high, we’re not going to be able to compete against the world. I hate to say it, but we have to leave it the way it is. People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum.”

Kessler and Lee write, "Days later, Trump clarified he was referring to whether he would increase the minimum wage. He would not raise it, because then it would be 'too high,' he said. Then in May 2016, Trump appeared to support states' raising minimum wages, and to oppose the federal government setting a floor on wages for states to raise. Trump also said that he didn’t 'know how people make it on $7.25 an hour.' But Trump has indicated since then that 'he might be willing to trade a minimum-wage increase to obtain another policy goal,' The Wall Street Journal reported on July 19."

On other questionable claims, Robert Farley of FactCheck.org writes, "Sen. Bernie Sanders said Hillary Clinton 'will guarantee' free tuition at public colleges or universities for families with annual incomes of $125,000 or less. But free tuition is not guaranteed. States must put up matching funds for the students to receive free tuition. Sanders also said the 'top 1 percent in recent years has earned 85 percent of all new income,' but economists whose work Sanders has cited put the figure at 52 percent for 1993 to 2015."