Published September 4, 2006
LANSING (AP) - Michigan will have a youth-specific minimum wage when the rates rise in October.
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The state's current minimum wage is $5.15 an hour. It would rise to $6.95 for most workers next month, but employees under 18 would get $5.91 an hour under a bill that got final approval from the Legislature yesterday.
The House passed the bill by a 92-14 vote. The Senate passed the bill last week. The legislation is headed to Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who supports the deal.
Both minimum wages are set to rise again in 2007 and 2008.
The House yesterday also wrapped up other parts of a package designed at keeping the status quo for overtime eligibility in Michigan while raising the minimum wage.
Legislation passed by a 103-3 vote would provide a state tax credit for low-income workers. The legislation, which also is headed toward Granholm's approval, would allow a state earned-income tax credit on top of the existing federal credit. The credit would start at 10 percent in 2008 and rise to 20 percent in 2009.
In 2004, about 663,000 families with incomes below $35,458 received federal refund checks for earned income tax credits, averaging $1,764. Based on those numbers, families would get a refund check from the state for just above $350 on average once the tax credit rises to 20 percent.
The agreement also will keep salespeople, truckers and many other types of workers ineligible for overtime pay. Both the Senate and House passed the legislation restoring the status quo on OT eligibility last week.
Fourteen House members, all Democrats, voted against the youth minimum wage bill. They were Frank Accavitti of Eastpointe, Glenn Anderson of Westland, Doug Bennett of Muskegon, Steve Bieda of Warren, Matt Gillard of Alpena, John Gleason of Flushing, Alexander Lipsey of Kalamazoo, Bill McConico of Detroit, Andy Meisner of Ferndale, Fred Miller of Mount Clemens, Alma Wheeler Smith of Ypsilanti, Carl Williams of Saginaw, Lisa Wojno of Warren and Paula Zelenko of Burton.
Some Democrats were not in favor of having a separate minimum wage for young workers.
Three Republicans - Leon Drolet of Macomb County's Clinton Township, Bob Gosselin of Troy and Chris Ward of Brighton - voted against the earned income tax bill.
Shelley Taub, a Republican from Bloomfield Hills, did not vote on either bill.
