Wages
Hawaii – Legislation that would tie the state’s minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index beginning in 2028 passed on its first reading and has been assigned to its first committees. Under legislation passed in 2022, Hawaii’s minimum wage will go to $18/hr by 2028 with the tip credit at $1.50/hr. The pending legislation would allow for automatic increases after 2028. More details.
Maryland – Next week, a senate committee will hear legislation that would eliminate the tip credit by 2027. Similar legislation was introduced and defeated last year. The bill also includes a provision requiring the state labor commissioner to establish the High Road Kitchen Program as a recognition program for restaurants that have voluntarily opted to not utilize the tip credit. This is a program that is oft-promoted by One Fair Wage. More details.
New Hampshire – A hearing scheduled for this week on minimum wage legislation was canceled and has been rescheduled for Jan. 30. The legislation would raise the minimum wage to $15/hr by 2025. It is unlikely to make it through the process in the state. More details.
Virginia – The governor indicated this week that he is unlikely to support pending legislation increasing the state’s minimum wage, saying market forces do a better job of determining hourly pay rates. Last week, legislation to incrementally increase the minimum wage to $15/hr by 2026 advanced out of a house committee. A companion bill advanced out of a senate committee this week. Speaking to reporters after a small business-themed event this week, Youngkin stopped short of saying he’d veto the bill, but the governor was clear about his belief that an increase isn’t necessary because, “the market is working.” More details.
Paid Leave
New Mexico – Legislation advanced out of a house committee that would provide up to 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave for care of newborns or spouses, and relatives facing serious medical conditions. The program exempts employers with fewer than five employees, as well as those who offer similar or better self-funded benefits packages that don’t wish to participate. Similar bills have failed in previous sessions. But, this year’s version includes a number of changes, such as expanding potential beneficiaries to include relatives of military members on active duty or who are about to be called to active duty, adding a requirement for an actuarial consultant to analyze how the program is working, and capping employee contributions at the same level as Social Security. The bill has more house committee stops on its way to the floor. More details.
Labor Activism
Pizza Hut – The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) organized a strike at California Pizza Hut locations this week. Their complaints center on “abusive scheduling,” “wage theft,” and pending layoffs for delivery drivers in and around Los Angeles. The SEIU announced that it will be taking these complaints to the new Fast Food Council, established under the FAST Act. The Council is expected to meet for the first time this spring. More details.
Alcohol
Indiana – A house committee advanced legislation that allows a bar or restaurant (retailer) to prepare, sell, and deliver alcoholic beverages for carryout in sealed, non-original containers. More details.
Delivery
Florida – Legislation advanced in a senate committee prohibiting food delivery platforms from taking (or arranging for) the delivery or pickup of orders from a food service establishment without the food service establishment’s consent. It also requires food delivery platforms to provide food service establishments with a method of contacting and responding to consumers by a specified date and provides the circumstances under which a food delivery platform must remove a food service establishment’s listing on its platform. Additionally, it preempts localities from regulating the delivery platforms. More details.
Sustainability
Chicago, IL – A proposal to effectively ban natural gas in most new buildings in the city was introduced in the city council. Opponents successfully leveraged a parliamentary maneuver to send the measure to the Rules Committee, which must now determine which committee can take up the ordinance before it can be debated in committee. This action effectively delays consideration of the proposal by up to a month. Mayor Brandon Johnson and two of his progressive allies introduced the so-called Clean and Affordable Buildings Ordinance saying that putting emissions caps on buildings is one of the most effective steps for fighting climate change. The ordinance would set an emissions standard that essentially mandates most newly-constructed buildings to require electric power for cooking, heating, and hot water tanks. While natural gas hookups would not be specifically banned, it wouldn’t be feasible for gas hookups to meet the new emissions standards. More details.
Misc.
Interchange Fees – The Federal Reserve extended its public comment period until May 12 regarding its proposed changes to the current debit card interchange cap which would reduce the interchange fee cap and increase the fraud-prevention adjustment. The proposed rule would reduce the base component of the interchange fee cap to 14.4 cents (down from the current 21 cents), reduce the ad valorem component to 4.0 basis points (down from the current 5.0 basis points) and increase the fraud-prevention adjustment to 1.3 cents (up from the current one cent). Additionally, it would mandate an update to all three components of the interchange fee cap (base, ad valorem, and fraud prevention) every other year going forward by directly linking the components to data from the agency’s biennial survey of large debit card issuers starting in 2025, without public comment. More details.
Florida – Legislation has advanced through two senate committees that would require certain businesses to accept cash payments for any transaction involving the purchase of any tangible good or any service and would bar merchants from adding fees to (or placing conditions on) cash transactions. Many businesses, including QSRs, have gone to all-digital formats where there is no mechanism to process cash payments. The bill would require that covered businesses have, at minimum, a back-up system to process cash. In a report last year, the Federal Reserve found that 18 percent of Americans used mostly cash and a disproportionate number of them were older and/or in lower income households and did not have traditional banking relationships. More details.
Key Takeaways
- The SEIU announced this week that it will take Los Angeles-area Pizza Hut workers’ complaints to the new Fast Food Council (established under the FAST Act). The Council is expected to meet for the first time this spring. And, the announcement this week hints at how the SEIU intends to use the Council to advance its interests. For context, the Council’s recommendation will no longer have the force of law but instead will be forwarded to the Labor Commissioner for consideration. Expect the SEIU to use it as a platform to target brands and advance priority issues.
- This week, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson headlined a small symposium held by the Center for American Progress in conjunction with the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual winter meeting in Washington, DC. The event, sponsored by One Fair Wage, lauded his recent effort in Chicago to eliminate the tip credit and encouraged other mayors to follow suit. One Fair Wage President Saru Jayaraman was the moderator of the event and a handful of other mayors were present, pledging to follow Chicago’s lead in their cities. The group has tentatively launched “Mayors for a Fair Wage.” This action marks a significant escalation in OFW’s collective efforts. Brands and industry leaders need to begin, if they haven’t already, significant outreach and grassroots pressure to those mayors to stem off any potential legislation in this space.
Podcast
Check out our Working Lunch podcast each week that includes further analysis into these legislative issues, policy, politics and much more. You can find Working Lunch on the Restaurant Business online website, SoundCloud, iTunes and Spotify.