Hawaii Senate bill would hike minimum wage to $12 an hour on Oct. 1
STAR-ADVERTISER FILE
State Sen. Kurt Fevella.
The state Senate has introduced its version of a bill to raise Hawaii’s $10.10 an hour minimum wage — starting with an initial jump to $12 per hour starting Oct. 1.
Senate Bill 2018 would then increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour on Jan. 1, 2024, and then to $18 an hour on Jan. 1, 2026.
State Sen. Kurt Fevella, (R, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point), is the lone Republican senator and one of 21 senators to introduce SB 2018.
“I’m working closely with my colleagues,” Fevella told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “It’s time. … We need to start somewhere and we need to start now. It’s long overdue for a minimum wage increase so people can get a decent living wage.”
The House is expected to submit its version on Monday to also increase the minimum wage to $18 an hour, but no timetable has been announced.
Hawaii’s minimum wage last increased from $9.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour in 2018.
Don't miss out on what's happening!
Stay in touch with top news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
Legislators had hoped to pass legislation boosting the minimum wage at the start of the 2020 session, but the plans were scuttled as COVID-19 all but shuttered Hawaii’s economy.
Following layoffs and job losses spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hawaii’s economic rebound has led to new calls to increase the minimum wage to $18 an hour.
