Nevada’s Minimum Wage Comes Down To You
Wages are an interesting subject in Nevada, and it’s on the upcoming ballot.
Nevada Ballot Question 2 is referred to the “Minimum Wage” question. “Shall the Nevada Constitution be amended to establish a state minimum wage employers must pay at a rate of $12 per hour or any applicable increases about that rate provided by federal law or the Nevada Legislature?”
This November Nevadans will have the opportunity to establish a $12 per hour minimum wage for almost all employees in the state.
It’s dry, but here are the basics:
Right now, the state of Nevada has a two-tiered minimum wage system: The minimum wage allowed for employees who are offered qualifying health insurance is $1 less per hour than the minimum wage rate allowed for employees who are not offered qualifying health insurance.
Question 2, which is on the upcoming general election ballot, would amend the Nevada Constitution and establish a minimum hourly wage of $12, regardless of what types of benefits the employer offers.
If passed, the new minimum wage would become effective July 1, 2024.
Nevada’s minimum wage is already scheduled to rise on that date to $12 per hour for employees who are not offered health insurance by their employers. That’s because the Nevada State Legislature passed a bill in 2019 to step up the minimum wage by 75 cents annually until it reached $12 per hour in 2024.
The minimum wage for employees who are offered health insurance is currently scheduled to rise to $11 per hour on July 1, 2024.
Proponents of Question 2 say this is a loophole that has benefited greedy employers, which can offer subpar health insurance in order to pay workers the lower tier minimum wage. Many minimum wage workers are declining such insurance because it is still too costly, which means they are left with no insurance (or hopefully insurance provided elsewhere) but still stuck earning at the lower minimum wage rate.
The language of Question 2 also makes it clear that state lawmakers still have the power to set a minimum wage rate that is higher than $12 per hour, but they cannot go lower.
Federal lawmakers could also force Nevada’s minimum wage even higher, if they were to raise the federal minimum wage to more than $12 per hour. (The existing federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour has not changed since 2009.)
Nevada’s current minimum wage rates are $9.50 and $10.50 per hour. Those rates are set to rise to $10.25 and $11.25 per hour on July 1, 2023.
If Question 2 passes, employers will no longer be able to pay a dollar less than minimum wage if the business offers health insurance. There are over 100,000 workers who would benefit from Question 2 passing – to be paid $10.50 instead of $9.50.
Nevada’s minimum wage stayed flat at $7.25 and $8.25 from 2010 to 2019. They were raised in 2019 because of legislative action by the Democratic-controlled statehouse and governorship at the time.
In 2019, Democratic lawmakers discussed proposals to swiftly hike the minimum wage to $15 per hour. This is a number that is favorable to wage advocates nationally, which equals $31, 200 per year (gross/before taxes) for full time (40 hours/week) employment.
That proposal was adjusted down, and the plan to implement it was spread out over several years, in order to make it more “palatable” to the business community, which typically argues that the market should dictate wages.
Twelve dollars per hour is equivalent to $24,960 per year, (gross/before taxes) for full time (40 hours/week) employment. Eleven dollars per hour is equivalent to $22,880 per year.
Nevada voters in 2004 and 2006 overwhelmingly passed the Minimum Wage Amendment, with 68.4% and 68.7% approval, respectively. That constitutional amendment qualified for those ballots through the initiative process, which requires approval by voters twice.
Hopefully this helps spell out a ballot measure that affects everyone in Nevada in some way.
Early voting is October 22 – November 4. Election day is November 8.
-Carla Rea
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