Wages
Ohio – The Ohio Ballot Board certified a ballot initiative that, if passed, would increase the state minimum wage to $13/hr by 2025.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Pennsylvania – The governor released his fiscal budget for the year which includes a proposal to increase the state wage to $12/hr.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Rhode Island – The senate passed legislation to increase the state minimum wage to $11.50/hr by October 1, 2020.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Virginia – Legislation to increase the minimum wage to $15/hr passed both the house labor committee and the senate finance committee this week. The bills are slightly different.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Flagstaff, AZ – The city may owe the state nearly one million dollars. It appears that it must comply with a state law that mandates cities with wage rates higher than the state must remit back to the state “costs associated” with those higher wages.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Hayward, CA – The city council voted unanimously to expedite an increase in the minimum wage to $15/hr by July 1 and tie it to the CPI annually thereafter.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Paid Leave
Federal – In his annual State of the Union address, the president reiterated his support for a federal paid leave program and endorsed pending bi-partisan legislation.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Colorado – Significant changes were made to the original plan to create a state-run paid leave insurance program.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Vermont – By one vote, the house failed to override the governor’s veto of paid family leave legislation that would have allowed for eight weeks of paid leave to care for a sick family member and 12 weeks for new parents.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Labor Policy
Federal – The Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO Act, passed the U.S. House this week with a handful of Republicans voting for the measure. Unions and labor advocates pushed the measure as a labor litmus test for 2020 candidates.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Washington – Trial lawyers in the state are pushing legislation, the so-called Worker Protection Act, that creates a private right of action for alleged workplace violations, allowing individuals or third parties to pursue legal actions on behalf of the state.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
New York City, NY – The city council will hear legislation Feb. 13 related to “just cause” firings.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Seattle, WA – The well-known Lowell’s Restaurant in Pike Place Market settled a nearly $500,000 wage theft case.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
Packaging
Illinois – Legislation to impose a 10 cent fee on all plastic, paper or compostable bags received a hearing in a house committee.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
New Jersey – Legislation to ban most bags, polystyrene foam and straws passed out of a key senate committee.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe
South Dakota – A bill to preempt localities from regulating containers, straws and plastic packaging received its first hearing in a house committee.To Access Align's Analysis: Log In or Subscribe