Legislature voids Atlanta’s living wage provision
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Senate today voted 33-17 in favor of a bill that would prevent local governments from giving contractual preferences to companies that pay their workers more than the federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour.
House Bill 59 now heads to Gov. Sonny Perdue for his signature.
The measure, introduced by House Rules Chairman Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs), would undermine Atlanta’s living wage ordinance. The controversial Atlanta ordinance gives preference to companies bidding for city service contracts if they pay their employees $10.50 an hour with insurance, or $12 without.
“I think that the citizens of Georgia now can compete on an equal playing field for doing work with government agencies in their area,” Ehrhart said. “There will be no special preferences given. Once again, people would rather have a job at $8 an hour than no job at $12.50 per hour.”
Sen. Chip Rogers (R-Woodstock) carried the measure in the Senate, arguing that a living wage artificially inflates wages and that taxpayers ultimately are hurt by such policies.
“The underlying economic theory is quite clear, a living wage simply does not work,” Rogers said.
Sen. Kasim Reed (D-Atlanta) spoke against the bill. He argued that the Atlanta city ordinance does not require companies to pay the higher minimum wage, rather, it simply encourages them to do so. He said that it is important to ensure that people who work in Atlanta earn enough to be able to afford to live in the city.
Reed also took exception to the General Assembly passing a general bill that is targeted to a specific city.
“For some reason as it relates to the city of Atlanta, we can ignore its local delegation, its county delegation and bring a general bill,” Reed said. “I would never do that to your city or county.”
The bill does not specifically name the city of Atlanta, and it would affect all Georgia cities and counties.
The Atlanta City Council made its living wage law voluntary because the General Assembly last year, in a bill sponsored by Ehrhart, outlawed mandatory living wage laws. House Bill 59 adds wage-based bidding preferences to the prohibition on living wage laws.
The bill set off a long debate about poverty levels and job competition among senators.
Sen. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) said called Ehrhart’s measure an “anti-Atlanta bill.” The state Senate and House recently passed another measure targeting an Atlanta ordinance. That bill blocks Atlanta’s attempt to penalize private organizations that don’t offer gay and lesbian couples the same benefits as married couples.
“This bill goes after the barest of voluntary programs,” Fort said. “We ought not to be in the position of requiring the city of Atlanta to do away with a voluntary program.”
Sen. Seth Harp (R-Midland), however, argued that “artificially” mandated wage levels ultimately hurt American workers.
“The marketplace is what will determine what wages will be paid,” Harp said. “When the marketplace can’t determine that, jobs will go off offshore. That’s what’s been happening for the past 20 years. We can’t artificially legislate wages, and keep propping them up.”
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