This was crossover week in Richmond, which means that both the House of Delegates and the Senate completed work on their respective bills and are now sending those remaining to the
other body
for consideration. There have been many developments over the past few weeks regarding policies that would greatly affect our region's business community, and I would like to give you a brief update on some legislation of note.
First of all - two bills seeking to raise Virginia's minimum wage have passed their respective legislative bodies and have now "crossed over" for further consideration.
House Bill 395
, which passed the House on a 55-45 vote, would raise the Commonwealth's minimum wage to $10 per hour on July 1st of this year. Annual increases would then occur until the state minimum wage reaches $15 per hour in year 2025.
Senate Bill 7
takes a dramatically different approach to raising the state's minimum wage. After annual statewide increases to begin on January 1st, 2021 at $9.50 per hour, future minimum wage increases after year 2023 (when the wage reaches $11.50 per hour) would be different in each "minimum wage region". These regions will determined by the Department of Labor and are to be areas with similar median household incomes and costs of living. The calculation of future minimum wage increases for each minimum wage region in year 2024 and beyond will be based off the median household income differential between regions throughout Virginia compared to the region with the highest median household income in the state. SB 7 passed the Senate on a 21-19 vote.
While we are concerned with proposals that seek to raise the minimum wage, we are pleased to report that
attempts
to mandate employers implement an expensive one-size fits all paid family leave program have been defeated this legislative session. Efforts to repeal our status as a right to work state were stopped as well, which is great news for business owners, their employees, and Virginia's status as the #1 state to do business.
As session moves forward in these final few weeks, we'll keep you up to date with how to stay involved in defeating efforts that would negatively affect our local economy. Please contact Terry Durkin, Vice President of Public Policy at tdurkin@roanokechamber.org should you wish to become
involved in our advocacy efforts
or would like more information on legislation before the General Assembly.
