Ohio Republican pitches $15 minimum wage bill to fend off ballot issue

A Republican lawmaker is introducing a bill to raise Ohio's minimum wage to $15 an hour − an attempt to fend off a November ballot issue.

Sen. Bill Blessing, R-Colerain Township, has proposed raising Ohio's minimum wage to $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2028. But tipped workers would increase to $7.50 an hour, not $15 − a key difference between his proposal and one from Raise the Wage Ohio, which is collecting signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the November ballot.

Blessing knows voters will almost certainly approve a $15-an-hour minimum wage if it's on the November ballot, but he thinks his approach is better for workers and employers. Blessing called the ballot language "a very blunt instrument to accomplish what they are trying to accomplish."

Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, said Democrats have been the ones leading the charge on raising the minimum wage, so she's interested in having a conversation about helping struggling workers. Still, everyone should be wary of last-minute efforts from Republicans trying to sidestep ballot issues, she said.

"When the Legislature steps in at the 11th hour in response to a potential ballot initiative, one has to be a little bit suspect," Antonio said.

Opinion: Want $15 minimum wage in Ohio? We can do it without costing jobs and closing businesses.

And Raise the Wage Ohio's campaign manager Mariah Ross called the proposal "an underhanded attempt to trick the public" by excluding tipped workers from the $15-an-hour minimum wage and implementing the increase later.

Here's how the it would work:

What is the current minimum wage in Ohio?

Ohio's current minimum wage is $10.45 per hour for non-tipped employees and $5.25 per hour for tipped employees. In 2006, Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment that tied the state minimum wage to inflation.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour for non-tipped workers and $2.13 for tipped employees, plus tips equal to at least the minimum wage.

How would the bill change the minimum wage?

Blessing's Senate Bill 256 would increase the state's minimum wage for non-tipped workers to $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2028. Tipped workers' minimum wage would increase to $7.50 an hour over those four years. After that, the minimum wage would be tied to inflation.

Antonio said she has "mixed feelings about lower wages that are available to people who have access to tips because it’s so difficult to count on that."

The bill also includes a refundable earned income tax credit, which allows workers earning less than $63,400 to reduce the amount of taxes they owe and sometimes receive a refund. The federal credit in 2023 was between $600 and $7,430, depending on family size and earnings.

Under Blessing's proposal, employees with a child under the age of three would be eligible for 12% of the federal credit and everyone else would be eligible for 9%. If passed, Ohioans would be eligible for a credit of between $54 and $892.

Ohio currently has a non-refundable earned income tax credit, which is 30% of the value of the federal credit. Because it's non-refundable, workers do not get money back if the credit exceeds what they owe in taxes.

Blessing contends this approach is better because the refund "flows directly to the workers without causing a competitive disadvantage to Ohio businesses." He worked on the proposal with the Ohio Restaurant Association, which opposes the ballot measure.

Blessing estimated this credit would cost Ohio between $200 million and $300 million a year, but he says it's a more effective policy than quickly raising the minimum wage for all workers. Still, Blessing's fellow Republicans have been wary of passing a refundable earned income tax credit in the past.

"There is a hesitancy within the General Assembly to do something like this," Blessing acknowledged. "However, I don't know if they fully know why it's beneficial, and why it can be a very important tool when paired with a modest minimum wage."

Antonio was shocked that the idea, which Democrats have pushed for years, would be included in a Republican bill. "I have been trying to get them to do a refundable earned income tax credit since I've been in the Legislature," she said. "Holy guacamole."

The Ohio Hospitality and Restaurant Alliance, which opposes the ballot measure, sees Blessing’s bill as a more gradual approach.

“Eliminating the tipped wage, as proposed in the ballot initiative, would threaten the survival of many small and independent restaurants, especially those in small towns across Ohio,” said Tod Bowen with the Ohio Restaurant Association.

How is this bill different from the proposed ballot initiative?

The proposed ballot initiative would increase the state's minimum wage for both tipped and non-tipped workers to $15 an hour.

Non-tipped workers would reach $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2026, and tipped workers would hit that mark by Jan. 1, 2029. After that, the minimum wage would be tied to inflation.

"Having their (tipped workers') wages be reliant upon the public good or a customer's feelings for the day is not sustainable," said Ross with Raise the Wage Ohio. "Most of the workers live in poverty and raising them to $15 will help them have financial stability."

The proposal is a constitutional amendment, which would trump any state law.

Blessing said raising the minimum wage this quickly could lead to closed businesses, higher prices for customers and more unemployment, particularly in places like Cincinnati's Hamilton County, which borders Indiana and Kentucky with lower minimum wages.

Antonio, who supports a $15 minimum wage, said Ohioans shouldn't count on lawmakers to pass an alternative. "At this point, the people who are working on a ballot initiative should be working full steam ahead."

Raise the Wage Ohio must collect 413,000 valid voter signatures by July 3 for the constitutional amendment to make the November ballot.

Why are Republicans interested in raising the minimum wage now?

To date, efforts to raise Ohio's minimum wage have come almost exclusively from Democrats and gone nowhere in the GOP-controlled General Assembly.

For example, Sens. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, and Hearcel Craig, D-Columbus, introduced Senate Bill 146 to increase Ohio's minimum wage to $15 an hour over a four-year rollout. Blessing is not a co-sponsor of that bill, which has received just one hearing.

In 2016, then-Gov. John Kasich signed into law a prohibition on cities raising their minimum wages higher than the state's. Blessing voted for that bill.

Blessing said Republicans have been hesitant to embrace raising the minimum wage because of economic downsides associated with it. But the threat of a popular constitutional amendment has forced them to give it a second look.

"If you look at minimum wages, they are typically popular," Blessing said. "If you did a poll on this, you would find that more people than not support it."

Keeping the issue off the November ballot could also help Republicans trying to unseat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who has advocated for a $15 minimum wage. Brown faces Republican challenger Bernie Moreno, a Cleveland businessman and political newcomer.

"By default would it be beneficial for him (Brown) to have it on the ballot because it's a shared value, I guess so," Antonio said. "So if Republicans want to counter, how about they start talking about shared values with the people of the state of Ohio? How about that, instead of focusing on culture wars and things that are out of touch with the people of the state of Ohio?"

Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio Republican pitches $15 minimum wage to fend off ballot issue