A Maryland House of Delegates committee advanced a bill that would raise Maryland's minimum wage to $15, while extending the amount of time it will take for the wage to ramp up.
The bill no longer ties the wage to inflation in the future. Under the amended bill, the minimum wage would not increase to $15 until January, 1, 2025. Provisions increasing the wage for tipped workers would also be removed so servers can keep their "tip credit." Another amendment allows businesses to pay workers younger than 18 years old 85 percent of the minimum wage. The original bill pushed by Democrats proposed increasing the statewide minimum wage incrementally until reaching $15 per hour in 2023. The minimum wage would have been tied to the Consumer Price Index to account for inflation. Business owners and chambers of commerce from the across the state opposed the bill, saying it would make the cost of running a business too high.
