Why not just make it $50/hr? Then everyone would be pulling down a cool $100 grand a year each, and everyone would be solidly middle class. Poverty would be eliminated in the stroke of a pen!
Why not $50? Don’t tempt them. Keep in mind that the reason they want to raise it to that level is that the going wage in NY is already higher than that level so that it won’t affect their State. Their strategy is to fix it so that other States won’t be able to compete against NY for those jobs because those employers will need to pay as much in other States as they do in NY.