For the third time in four years, the state House has passed a bill to raise Pennsylvania's minimum wage.
The latest measure, which was approved on a mostly partisan 104-95 vote, would see the current minimum wage of $7.25 an hour rise gradually to $15 an hour in 2029.
It would jump to $11 an hour in 2027, another two dollars in 2028, and then $15 in 2029.
Beginning in 2030, it would include an annual cost of living adjustments based on the Consumer Price Index.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Jason Dawkins (D-Philadelphia), said on the floor, "It is long, long past due that we get serious about the affordability crisis we are experiencing in this country — the rising cost of gasoline, the rising cost of housing, the rising cost of food, the rising cost of daycare, and everything in between."
He added, "Pennsylvania should be leading the charge to make sure that everyone has the decency and dignity to go home with a paycheck that is not embarrassing."
But the measure only had four Republican supporters.
Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R-Bedford) warned entry level jobs, often filled by young people and students entering the workforce, may be eliminated if employers are forced to pay them $15 an hour. He also cited concerns that companies may raise the prices of products to compensate.
"If I truly believed that a government mandated wage would be the utopia that we hear and that it would fix all of the problems that we hear about, I would support it," he said. "The problem is, fundamentally, I don't believe it will accomplish those goals."
Another critic, Rep. Robert Leadbeter (R-Columbia), warned that raising the minimum wage could have a particularly negative impact on tipped workers, who are not excluded in the bill.
"Do not harm tipped wage workers by ignoring protections for them in your efforts to increase the minimum wage," he said.
Four Republicans voted in favor of the bill, Reps. Joe Emrick (R-Northampton), Natalie Mihalek (R-Allegheny), Joe Hogan (R-Bucks) and Kathleen Tomlinson (R-Bucks).
Two Democrats, Reps. Frank Burns (D-Cambria) and Chris Rabb (D-Philadelphia), voted against it.
Two previous committee votes on the measure, in the Appropriations and Labor & Industry committees, fell squarely on partisan lines.
While House Democrats have long wanted to increase the minimum wage, the measure's fate will be decided by Senate Republicans.
Bills that would have raised it passed out of the House in 2023 and 2025. But those efforts failed in the Senate, where the GOP majority has largely opposed similar moves.
In a statement, Sen. Majority Leader Joe Pittman said he would like to focus on "policies which help to create more maximum wage jobs."
"There is potential to finding a middle ground for an increase to the minimum wage, but any possible action would need to be a commonsense adjustment, and sensitive to the impact changes would have on small businesses and non-profit organizations," he added.
Last year, the Senate rejected what was viewed by Democrats as a compromise measure. That proposal would have raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour in most of the state, but to only $12 an hour in smaller, rural counties where opponents have raised concerns about the impacts on small businesses.
While that effort appeared to fizzle, Sen. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie), who has sometimes sided with Democrats on divisive issues like cannabis legalization, pitched a measure to raise the minimum wage to $11 an hour, but that too failed to gain momentum.
Gov. Josh Shapiro has also voiced support for a minimum wage increase. He's included a proposal to raise it to $15 an hour in each of his budget addresses since being elected to the office in 2022.
Another bill introduced in the House, introduced by Reps. Emily Kinkead (D-Allegheny) and Roni Green (D-Philadelphia), would tie the minimum wage to a cost of living increase received by lawmakers in Harrisburg.
Already, Pennsylvania lawmakers receive an annual, automatic cost of living increase. Currently, rank and file lawmakers make $113,000 per year. That puts Pennsylvania's legislature among the highest paid in the country.
Kinkead and Green's bill would annually raise the minimum wage by the same relative amount as lawmakers' salaries.
"It is shameful that state lawmakers have seen a more than 45% salary increase over the last 17 years while the minimum wage has remained unchanged," Kinkead said in a statement. "Taxpayers are funding annual raises for elected officials. Those same taxpayers deserve to see their wages grow as well."
Each of Pennsylvania's neighboring states have minimum wages higher than $7.25. New York's, New Jersey's, Delaware's and Maryland's are already at $15 an hour. Among them, West Virginia's is the lowest, at $8.25.
The commonwealth last voted to raise it in 2006, when Gov. Ed Rendell signed a measure to increase it to $7.15. It was brought up to $7.25 in 2009 when the federal government raised the rate country-wide.
Read more from our partner, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.