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By Howard Fischer, Capitol Media Services January 31, 2023
State lawmakers are moving to financially penalize cities that have a minimum wage higher than the rest of the state.
And they are doing it in a way designed to get around restrictions that voters put on legislators in 2016 when they said cities can have their own base wages.
SB 1108, awaiting Senate floor action, would allow employers in any city with a wage above the state minimum to claim a 10% credit for what they compute as the difference of what they have to pay versus what they could pay at the lower state figure.
They wouldn’t even have to prove that they actually are paying anyone that minimum. Instead, as crafted by Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, the credit would occur right through the entire payroll, even to managers and executives.
But that’s only half of the measure.
