Last month, the House voted to incrementally raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
If the Senate passes the bill, it would be the first federal minimum wage increase in more than a decade — far too long for residents of the 21 states that don’t have their own higher minimum wage.
Here’s another sad truth: Plenty of cities in those states have tried to raise their minimum wage, only to be stymied by state lawmakers. That’s thanks to state preemption laws that keep localities from adopting all kinds of policies, from paid sick leave to local fracking bans to wage increases.
Preemption laws have exploded in recent years as predominantly Republican state legislatures, bolstered by right-wing corporate groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council, look to curb anything progressive that comes out of city governments.
One particularly notorious example took place in St. Louis, which, after years of organizing, passed an ordinance in 2015 to gradually raise the city’s minimum wage to a modest $11 an hour. Business interests spent months tying the wage increase up in courts, but workers finally won.
But just weeks after the first wage raise went into effect in 2017, Missouri’s Republican legislature passed a preemption law that nullified any minimum wage that exceeded state laws.
Workers in St. Louis who’d been bumped up to $10 an hour saw their pay cut almost immediately.
A ballot initiative to raise Missouri’s statewide minimum wage overwhelmingly passed in 2018, finally winning workers a raise. But the troubling preemption law is still on the books, which means cities and counties still can’t set their own wage floors.
Missourians aren’t the only ones whose lawmakers are trying to deny them a raise. A new report from the National Employment Law Project found that 25 states specifically preempt local minimum wages.
Nearly 346,000 workers have been affected by preempted minimum wages in 12 cities and counties. Those workers are losing $4,100 each on average — nearly $1.5 billion a year in total.
More than half of the workers affected by preemption in those localities are women. And in Birmingham, Miami Beach, and St. Louis, which were all preempted, workers of color are the overwhelming majority.
Most of these localities also have poverty rates far higher than the U.S. average.
States aren’t solely focused on slapping down minimum wage raises, a new report from the Local Solutions Support Center and the State Innovation Exchange finds. Thanks to corporate lobbying, 23 states have blocked local paid sick leave laws, 44 states block local regulations for Lyft and Uber, and 31 states don’t allow local rent control.
State legislatures skew strongly white and male, and have a track record of preempting policies designed to remove structural barriers for marginalized communities.
Ban the Box laws, which protect formerly incarcerated people from employment discrimination, have been preempted in five states. At least 11 states preempt sanctuary policies that would protect undocumented people. And there’s a trend of anti-LGBTQ preemption laws that would block protections passed by local governments.
Fortunately, the report also finds that the tides may be turning.
For example, Colorado passed a set of laws restoring local democracy, including one that (with some restrictions) repeals the state’s minimum wage preemption.
In Louisiana, a coalition of labor, faith, and community groups is pushing to restore local control over wage and paid leave policies. And cross-issue coalitions in Florida and Texas have beaten back preemptive legislation before it even becomes law.
Freeing localities from this specific stranglehold of corporate power will help local communities figure out what’s best for themselves.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
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In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
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Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
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