Posted on 01/22/2007 7:14:15 AM PST by GulfBreeze
The recent passage of a federal minimum wage act is expected to have little, if any, impact on San Diego employers. But rumored amendments in the Senate may prove otherwise.
The House of Representatives passed HR 2, also known as the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, on Jan. 10. The act raises the minimum dollar amount an employee anywhere in the country may receive from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour within two years.
Tina Fryar, an employment law attorney at the San Diego office of Littler Mendelson, said there’s no cause for any immediate concern locally because California’s minimum wage already far exceeds the national rate.
“Local business has already absorbed (increases like these),” Fryar said.
Fryar, whose law firm is based in San Francisco but has 40 or so offices nationwide, said locals will want to pay attention to whether rumored small-business tax breaks get written into the Senate’s version of the act.
The types of breaks the Senate might consider are rumored to include modifications to expensing levels, depreciation rules, tax credits and possibly implementation of other types of tax incentives favorable to businesses, Fryar said.
“All of these things are so up in the air right now,” Fryar said. “We’ll just have to wait and see (what the Senate does).”
While the act, which was co-sponsored by Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego, passed the House 315-116, it still awaits approval by the Senate.
In a prepared statement, Davis said: “The real value of minimum wage has plummeted to its lowest level in 51 years. An increase will not only be good for minimum wage earners, but it will be a good step to a stronger economy.”
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, voted no on the act, as did 115 of his Republican peers, including Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, and Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Escondido. Meanwhile, Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, was among the predominantly Democrat crowd who voted yes.
Although there are more Democrats than Republicans in the Senate, passage of HR 2 in the Senate would require some Republicans to cross party lines. There are 51 Democrats compared with 49 Republicans and at least 60 votes in favor of HR 2 are needed to ensure the act arrives on President Bush’s desk. Bush has reportedly said he would favor the wage hike if it came with tax cuts.
Although some Democrats have publicly stated that they would accept a compromise that would raise the minimum wage and feature tax breaks for small-business owners, others have not.
In a Washington Post article, San Francisco Bay Area Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, was quoted as saying: “Let’s be clear, given that nearly a decade has passed since the last minimum wage increase, no one can seriously believe that the proposed increase will harm the small-business sector. A minimum wage increase should not and need not be conditional on other legislation or policy changes.”
HR 2 as proposed by the House works in three stages: The current rate of $5.15 per hour would go to $5.85 per hour 60 days after enactment, then to $6.55 per hour one year later, followed by $7.25 per hour a year after that.
In California, the minimum wage became $7.50 an hour as of Jan. 1, and on Jan. 1 of next year, it becomes $8 an hour. California’s minimum wage has not been $5.15 an hour since 1998, when on March 1 of that year, it was raised from $5.15 an hour to $5.75 an hour.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Alpine, voted no on the act, as did 115 of his Republican peers, including Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, and Rep. Brian Bilbray, R-Escondido. Meanwhile, Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, was among the predominantly Democrat crowd who voted yes.
Hunter continues to impress with real conservative votes.
bttt
Duncan Hunter is the man. It's a shame any Republicans voted for this Nanny State garbage.
He should have stated...The local businesses have already raised their prices and passed the increase along to their customers. Those that didn't are now closed.
Duncan Hunter supporters should make sure that the campaign has access to them once they are ready for efforts in that supporter's area.
Go here:
http://peacethroughstrengthpac.com/Contact.aspx
and make sure that you leave your Name, Address, Email and Phone Number.
Make it clear you are looking to support Congressman Hunter's presidential campaign.
Every week or so serious supporters should drop a little jingle in the campaign at
https://secure.yourpatriot.com/services/donate.aspx?g38vPlxkn+k/GhdlUDxluNQXQ==
$10 or $20 bucks a week will add up in a serious way with just a few thousand people helping.
Now here is a big one. Google bomb this site:
http://www.gohunter08.com
Every day at least once a day!
Google bombing works like this:
1) go to google.com
2) type in "President" and hit enter
3) scroll to the bottom and hit the link that says "Dissatisfied? Help us improve"
4) type or paste "http://www.gohunter08.com " into both boxes and hit enter
5) repeat steps 1 - 4 as often as possible, changing step 2 each time by using words like "GOP", "Presidential Candidate", "US President", "Bush", "Hillary", "McCain", "Guilliani", "Romney", "Bill Richardson", "Newt", etc. (Anything that anyone ELSE researching the presidential race might put in.)
Google bombing will mean tremendous increase in exposure for Duncan Hunter.
Make sure you hit some other blogs several times a week and drop a note that you are leaning favorably towards Duncan Hunter and that you have been to his site at "http://www.gohunter08.com " as well as his PAC site at "http://peacethroughstrengthpac.com " . This helps create a tremendous level of cross exposure and target ID for the search engines.
If folks can't do the FREE stuff, what can they do?
Or - "Local businesses who haven't already closed up shop and moved to a more business friendly state have..."
I'll start my bombing run when I get home from work.
Hunter is on now on the blogs for life venue!
http://www.frc.org/get.cfm?i=EV07A05&f=WX06L01
Today beginning at 9:00 AM EST, FRC will air a live broadcast of Blogs for Life, the second annual conference of pro-life bloggers
Blogs for Life is scheduled to coincide with the 34th annual March for Life, during which thousands of pro-life advocates gather in the Nation's capitol to celebrate life and demand the reversal of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.
The schedule of speakers for the event includes:
9:00- Tony Perkins, FRC President
9:15- Bobby Schindler, brother of Terri Shiavo
9:30- Jill Stanek, pro-life speaker
10:00- Peter Samuelson, President, Americans United for Life
10:30- Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS)
11:00- Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA)
2:30- Ramesh Ponnuru, Senior Editor, National Review
4:00- David Prentice, Senior Fellow for Life Sciences, Family Research Council
A link to the webcast will be available here at 8:55 AM. For more information on the conference visit the Blogs for Life website.
Any Duncan Hunter people lurking here?
FYI, MoveOn activism RE the minimum wage vote:
Dear MoveOn member,
Last week, Speaker Pelosi and the House of Representatives wrapped up their historic '100 Hours' push, passing eight key measures on the economy, health care, clean energy and democracy. And they even did it with 13 hours to spare.1
Now it's on to the Senate, where corporate lobbyists are going all-out to stop these popular reforms by attaching 'poison pill' amendments and pushing Republicans to filibuster.
The first big fight is on raising the minimum wage with a vote expected in as little as 48 hours—and the dirty tricks have already started. We need to contact our senators today, urging them to pass a "clean" minimum wage bill and resist right-wing attempts to dilute the 100 hours package.
(snip)
Most of the 100 Hours initiatives are too popular for Bush to veto. So the Republican plan is to bottle them up in the Senate by adding amendments that Democrats won't be able to support. The minimum wage vote is the first test of this "poison pill" strategy—that's why we have to draw the line here and now.
While it's not yet certain which amendments opponents will try to attach, likely options include:
* Giving Bush an unprecedented 'line item veto' over the federal budget
* Dramatically weakening overtime protection for workers
* Even reducing the minimum wage for waiters and waitresses, hotel maids and other laborers who depend on tips
It's critical that every senator hear from their constituents in the next few days, urging them to fight hard to pass a "clean" minimum wage hike and support the other 100 hours programs without poison pill amendments like these.
We always knew that electing a new Congress was only the first step toward actually making this country more just, peaceful and humane. Now, we've all got to roll up our sleeves and do the hard work of shepherding the real changes we believe in all the way to the finish line—and that begins today.
etc.
Hunter showing good in this poll!
http://www2.wsvn.com/polls/main/MI37909/
Former Wisconsin Gov. - Tommy Thompson
0.2% 3 votes
Colorado Rep. - Tom Tancredo
1.9% 33 votes
Former Massachusetts Gov. - Mitt Romney
0.7% 12 votes
Texas Rep. - Ron Paul
1.4% 24 votes
Arizona Sen. - John McCain
2.3% 40 votes
California Rep. - Duncan Hunter
19.8% 341 votes
Former New York City Mayor - Rudy Giuliani
25.1% 432 votes
Former Virginia Gov. - Jim Gilmore
0.3% 6 votes
Kansas Sen. - Sam Brownback
8.6% 148 votes
Former Iowa Gov. - Tom Vilsack
0.2% 3 votes
Illinois Sen. - Barak Obama
9.0% 155 votes
Ohio Rep. - Dennis Kucinich
0.1% 2 votes
Former North Carolina Sen. - John Edwards
1.3% 23 votes
Former Alaska Sen. - Mike Gravel
0.0% 0 votes
Connecticut Sen. - Chris Dodd
0.1% 1 vote
New York Sen. - Hillary Rodham Clinton
28.3% 487 votes
New Mexico Gov. - Bill Richardson
0.5%
Wouldn't that be sweet!
bump!
::any campaign lurkers out there? hint, hint, hint::
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