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BOSTON (State House News Service) - Supporters of a minimum wage increase have opted not to pursue a ballot question in 2024.
Raise Up Massachusetts spokesman Andrew Farnitano, whose group had been weighing an initiative petition to secure another minimum wage hike, confirmed the coalition's decision to the News Service on Tuesday afternoon.
The influential alliance of organized labor, community groups and faith-based organizations for months had been publicly mulling an effort to get voters to boost the minimum wage, which ended a years-long climb to $15 in January and will not rise again without additional action.
Instead, Raise Up will continue to support legislation filed by Reps. Tram Nguyen and Daniel Donahue and Sen. Jason Lewis (H 1925 / S 1200). Those bills would increase the minimum wage $1.25 per year until it reaches $20 in 2027, plus boost the minimum wage for tipped workers to $12 per hour in 2027, and link both to the consumer price index so they continue to automatically grow apace with inflation.
The Raise Up coalition successfully pursued an earned sick time ballot question in 2014.
In 2018, the coalition offered a pair of ballot questions seeking a $15 minimum wage and creation of a paid family and medical leave program, but they wound up securing passage of those policies as part of an omnibus "grand bargain" law signed by former Gov. Charlie Baker.
The coalition in 2022 was the primary force behind a successful Constitutional amendment, which voters approved 52.3 percent to 47.7 percent, imposing a 4 percent surtax on annual income above $1 million.
Raise Up has not pursued ballot questions during presidential election years.
All groups and individuals hoping to put a proposed law or Constitutional amendment before voters in 2024 must file their initiative petitions with the attorney general's office by Wednesday to remain in the running.
Submitting a ballot question is only the first major hurdle, however, and campaigns face several additional steps including collection of tens of thousands of voter signatures.
Topics that could feature on the 2024 ballot include rights and benefits for drivers on app-based delivery and ride platforms, the use of MCAS exams as a high school graduation requirement, the state's gas tax, and elections reforms.
Written By Michael P. Norton and Chris Lisinski/SHNS
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