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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — An Idaho legislative panel has introduced a proposal that would ban local municipalities from raising the minimum wage.
Pam Eaton, president of the Idaho Retailers Association, presented the measure Tuesday before a House Business Committee. She said allowing communities to raise the minimum wage creates a checkerboard of regulations throughout the state that would damage businesses.
Eaton referenced a 2015 ballot initiative in McCall that would have raised the hourly minimum wage for workers from $7.25 to $10.25. That measure failed, with 53 percent of residents voting against it.
She said her proposal would clear up any confusion as to whether such local measures were illegal.
Rep. John Rusche, D-Lewiston, questioned Eaton about the measure's implications in resort towns like McCall, where workers commute in from other communities because they can't afford to live in the area.
"That's getting into the debate of what minimum wage does or doesn't do," Eaton said. "We would argue that increasing the minimum wage you are only exacerbating the problem. So we would actually argue that that wouldn't solve anything."
The proposed ban comes on the heels of a separate measure pushed by House Democrats that would raise the hourly minimum wage statewide from $7.25 to $9.25 over a two-year period. That bill was introduced earlier this year, but it hasn't received a hearing yet.
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This story has been corrected to show the proposal was introduced Tuesday, not Thursday.
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