State Senator Toni Nathaniel Harp
May 5, 2008
Harp Hails Final Legislative Action on Bill to Raise Connecticut Minimum Hourly Wage
Bill Moves To Rell'S Desk, Harp Urges Her Signature
State Senator Toni N. Harp (D-New Haven), the Senate Chair of the legislature's Appropriations Committee, today voted with a Senate majority for approval of the measure to raise the state's minimum hourly wage incrementally over the next two years. Senator Harp said the initiative is particularly important to working families in volatile economic times.
Specifics of the bill call for the minimum hourly wage to increase from the current $7.65 to $8.00 next January 1, and then again to $8.25 on January 1, 2010. Today's 25 to 11 Senate vote represents final legislative action on the bill; it now advances to the governor, and Senator Harp said she hopes the governor will sign it.
"With the soaring cost of everything from groceries to gasoline and from heating oil to gasoline it's our responsibility as legislators to ensure those working at the lowest end of the salary and wage structure are able to keep pace, and this initiative will help them do so," Senator Harp said. "Even at $8.00 an hour, it will take two hours to earn enough to buy a few gallons of gas or a decent meal at lunchtime."
Connecticut's minimum hourly wage increased incrementally in 2003 and in 2004, and then again in 2006 and in 2007. Senator Harp said this bill would continue that recent pattern. She said the bill received overwhelming support at each step through the legislative process, in the Labor Committee, in her Appropriations Committee, and then by a 106 to 45 vote in the House of Representatives last week.
"The people who do the jobs that pay minimum wage more often than not do work most of the rest of us would be unwilling to do even for a much higher wage; this bill recognizes the increased value of those jobs at that wage and the people who hold those positions," Senator Harp said. "I call upon Governor Rell to sign this bill and honor these workers and the vital role they play in our state's economy--it's the least we can do to help them meet the runaway costs of getting by in this economy."
Senator Harp is serving her 8th term in the General Assembly. In addition to her responsibility for the Appropriations Committee, she is vice-chair of the Select Committee on Children, and a member of the Executive and Legislative Nominations Committee.
|
Senator Harp’s |
Listing of Senator Harp’s recent press releases and a Press Kit with official head shots and bio. |
Press Aide Laurence Grotheer |
