Indiana House committee votes yes to minimum wage hike

Lawmakers heard nearly three hours of testimony, most of it from advocates for the working poor who favored an increase, but some by business groups who opposed it, saying it would actually cause job losses.

House Bill 1027 moves next to the full Indiana House for consideration. The author, state Rep. John Day, D-Indianapolis, said he is trying to find Republican co-sponsors in the House and also the state Senate.

The Indiana bill to increase the minimum wage above the federal minimum of $5.15 comes as the new Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives recently voted to increase the federal minimum to $7.25 an hour. Individual states have the legal authority to set their minimum wages higher than the federal level; and 30 other states already have.

Day said he is open to synchronizing the phased-in increase in his state bill with those in the congressional bill, so that both are on the same schedule.