Marrero State Representative Kyle M. Green Jr. wants to raise the state minimum wage to $9 an hour this legislative session with a pre-filed bill.
Others have tried to pass bills to raise the minimum wage from its current $7.25 an hour. Some economists believe raising the wage would be disastrous for Louisiana businesses, passing the cost on to the consumer.
“It is absolutely true that the cost gets passed on,” says Jim Patterson, Vice President of Government Relations for the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry. “If you go to states that have a higher minimum wage, the hamburgers there at McDonald's do in fact cost more there than they do here in Louisiana.”
But supporters of the bill disagree. “The idea that a modest increase in the minimum wage somehow hurts the economy, somehow kills jobs, is not only nonsense, but it’s nonsense that is disproven by all the evidence we have around the country,” said Jan Moller, Executive Director of the Louisiana Budget Project.
The bill will be discussed during the 2020 Regular Legislative Session on March 9th.