State Senate Passes Bill to Raise Minimum Wage to $15

After 6 hours of debate, members of the state Senate passed a bill with a 21-14 vote to incrementally increase the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2023.

Lawmakers began the debate Thursday night and continued it into early Friday and voted at 2:45 a.m.

If it becomes law, Connecticut would become the seventh state in the country to pass a plan to phase in a $15 minimum wage, joining New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, California, New Jersey and Maryland, as well as the District of Columbia.

Under the bill, the current $10.10 an hour wage will climb to $11 on October 1; $12 in 2020; $13 in 2021; $14 in 2022; and $15 in 2023. The wage would then be tied to the federal Employment Cost Index.

The bill will now head to Governor Lamont for his signature. The governor says he supports raising the minimum wage to $15.

“With this increase in minimum wage, thousands of hardworking women and men – many of whom are supporting families – will get a modest increase that will help lift them out of poverty, combat persistent pay disparities between races and genders, and stimulate our economy," Governor Lamont said.

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