Omaha City Council members next week will hear from the public on a proposed ordinance that, if passed, would keep the minimum wage in the city at $15 an hour for all workers.
The ordinance was drafted at the request of Council President Danny Begley. He cited the ballot initiative passed in November 2022 that gradually raised the state minimum wage to $15 this year, with a mandated cost-of-living adjustment in following years.
“I am simply putting before us what the voters already passed years ago,” Begley told Nebraska Public Media.
The ballot initiative passed in 2022 was designed to gradually increase the minimum wage each year up to 2026: $10.50 in 2023, $12 in 2024, $13.50 in 2025 and $15 in 2026. It also contained a provision that after this year, increases would be pegged to the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index.
But last year, Sen. Jane Raybould introduced LB258 to modify the original ballot initiative to set a 1.75% cap on the yearly increase.
The bill also created a youth minimum wage for 14-15 year olds, and a training wage, of $13.50.
“Most employers hiring at or just above the minimum wage are in industries that operate on razor thin profit margins,” Raybould said at the time. “Increasing their costs forces these businesses to raise prices, reduce job and training opportunities, decrease benefits, or cut some of the services that they provide.”
Begley said there was “clear voter support” for the 2022 initiative.
“They went and voted on it overwhelmingly to support the dignity of workers, not to have a race to the bottom, but to have a minimum wage established,” Begley said.
Under his proposed ordinance, the city’s Human Rights and Relations Department would implement the minimum wage law and “work with employers to ensure that employees are notified of the yearly changes” and that requirements are met.
The minimum wage would be raised in coming years using the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) in the Midwest region.
Begley said he was inspired by a similar ordinance in Lincoln.
Last month, the Lincoln City Council passed its own city ordinance aimed at restoring the voter-approved minimum wage plan from 2022. Before it voted on the proposal, Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers released an opinion contending the City Council lacked authority to set its own minimum wage.
“The Local Wage Proposal is inconsistent with state law because the Legislature has already comprehensively regulated minimum wage under the Nebraska Wage and Hour Act,” Hilgers said in the opinion.
The ordinance up for consideration by the Omaha City Council was drafted by the City Law Department with the help of the city’s Human Rights and Relations Department, said Matt Kuhse, city attorney.
A public hearing on the Omaha ordinance is scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday in the Legislative Chambers of City Hall. City Council members are scheduled to vote on the proposal June 30.