A bill that would ban local cities in Idaho from increasing the minimum wage is one step closer.
The House voted 55-14 to pass House Bill 463, which would force cities in Idaho that want to increase their minimum wage to get permission from the state first.
Not everyone was for the bill though, including Representative Mark Nye, “when the federal government tells us we have to do something or don’t, we react strongly as far as our objection. Now as we sit here, we’re telling a city what they can or cannot do on a given single issue. It takes away the rights of the local people to decide.”
Representative Vito Barbieri argued that the state created the local government, “the bottom line still remains, the state has the power to control municipalities and it has the power to control the federal government.”
Others argued that an increase in minimum wage would help people better make a living, but some say letting the city’s increase the wage when they want would cause goods to increase there as well.
The bill now heads to the Senate.
