$10.10 Minimum Wage Bill Passes in Maryland House:

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)The Maryland House of Delegates on Friday passed legislation to raise the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 per hour by 2017.  The Senate Finance Committee is expected to take action during the week of March 10. This is the first time that a minimum wage bill has been passed by the full House of Delegates since 2006. "Maryland has taken a big progressive step forward to give the working women and men of our state the raise they need to take care of themselves and their families." said Ricarra Jones, chair of Raise Maryland.  “Raising the wage is an economic as well as a justice issue.” Key provisions – including indexing the minimum wage to keep pace with the cost of living -- were stripped out during consideration of the bill in the House Economic Matters Committee, reported Raise Maryland. Advocates are working to keep these issues in the Senate version of the bill.
photo: January 14 minimum wage rally in Annapolis; photo by Chris Garlock