Signatures submitted for measure that would raise Oklahoma’s minimum wage

Welcome to the Tuesday, July 23, 2024, Brew.

Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:

1. Signatures submitted for measure that would raise Oklahoma’s minimum wage
2. Two Democrats resign from Pennsylvania House, Democrats maintain majority despite numerical minority
3. A closer look at the Democratic primary for Hillsborough County State Attorney in Florida

Signatures submitted for measure that would raise Oklahoma’s minimum wage

The campaign Raise The Wage Oklahoma submitted roughly 180,000 signatures on July 15 to the secretary of state for State Question 832. If approved, the ballot initiative would gradually increase the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 as follows:

• $9 per hour in 2025,
• $10.50 per hour in 2026,
• $12 per hour in 2027,
• $13.50 per hour in 2028, and
• $15 per hour in 2029.
• Starting in 2030, the minimum wage would be adjusted annually based on changes in inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

Oklahoma is one of 20 states that use the federal minimum wage rate of $7.25, which was established in 2009. The other 30 states set their own minimum wages, all of them higher than the federal wage.

The minimum wage increased in 25 states this year. The increases range from $0.23 in Michigan (a 2.23% increase from 2023) to $2 in Hawaii (a 14.29% increase from 2023).

• 22 increases took effect on Jan. 1;
• two took effect (in Oregon and Nevada) on July 1; and
• one takes effect in Florida on Sept. 30.

There were 28 minimum wage increase measures on state ballots between 1996 and 2022. Voters approved 26 (92.86%) and rejected two (7.14%). The two minimum wage increase measures that were rejected were in Montana and Missouri in 1996.

The most recent states to vote on a minimum wage increase ballot measure were Nebraska and Nevada in 2022. Nebraska Initiative 433 increased the state’s minimum wage incrementally from $9 to $15 by 2026. The Nevada measure set a wage of $12 for all employees, effective July 2024, and removed the state’s tiered wage system, where pay rates could be less if an employer-provided benefits.

Three minimum wage measures are on the ballot on Nov. 5:

• Alaska: increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2027 and provide for sick leave accrual;
• Arizona: allow tipped workers to be paid 25% less per hour than the minimum wage if any tips are not less than the minimum wage plus $2 for all hours worked; and
• California: increase minimum wage to $18 per hour by 2026.

Signatures were submitted for measures in three states:

• Arizona: increase the minimum wage to $18 by 2028.
• Massachusetts: increase the wage of tipped employees until it meets the state minimum wage in 2029 and still permit tipping in addition to the minimum wage.
• Missouri: establish a $13.75 per hour minimum wage by 2025, which would be increased by $1.25 per hour each year until 2026, when it will be $15 per hour.

Two Democrats resign from Pennsylvania House, Democrats maintain control despite numerical minority

On July 17, Pennsylvania state Reps. Donna Bullock (D) and Stephen Kinsey (D) resigned from the House. Both did so to take jobs outside of politics. Special elections to fill the vacancies will be held on Sept. 17.

The resignations mean that Republicans have 101 members in the chamber and Democrats 100. Democrats will retain control, however, due to a rule passed in June 2023. The rule defined the majority party as “the political party that won the greater number of elections for the 203 seats in the House of Representatives in the general election preceding the term of service that began on the first day of December next after the general election.” Democrats won a 102-101 majority in the November 2022 elections, making them the majority party under the rule. Both Bullock and Kinsey were uncontested in the general election.

Immediately following the election, one death and two departures to assume higher office gave Republicans a functional 101-99 majority until special elections could take place in February 2023.

As a result, the House elected Mark Rozzi (D) speaker as a compromise, with all 99 Democrats and 16 Republicans selecting him over Carl Metzgar (R), who received 85 votes. Rozzi said he would not caucus with Democrats and would operate independently.

Following the February 2023 special elections, Rozzi stepped down so that Joanna McClinton (D) could be elected speaker. She became speaker on a 102-101 party-line vote on Feb. 28.

The House majority Democrats won in 2022 was their first since 2010. Republicans won a 112-91 majority during the first midterm election under President Barack Obama (D), with the majority increasing to a high point of 121 in the 2016 elections.

Pennsylvania currently has a divided government, with a Democratic governor, a Republican-majority state Senate, and a Democratic-majority state House. Since 2000, Pennsylvania has been a Republican trifecta for a total of seven years (2000-2002 and 2011-2014) and a divided government the rest of the time. Across the country, there are 23 Republican trifectas, 17 Democratic trifectas, and 10 divided governments.

Nationwide, there are 99 state legislative chambers (Nebraska has a unicameral legislature). Of those, Republicans hold a majority in 56, Democrats hold a majority in 41, and two chambers (both in Alaska) are organized under a multipartisan, power-sharing coalition.

A closer look at the Democratic primary for Hillsborough County State Attorney in Florida

Throughout the year, we’ll bring you coverage of the most compelling elections — the battlegrounds we expect to have a meaningful effect on the balance of power in governments or to be particularly competitive. You can catch our previous coverage of other battleground races here.

Today, we’re looking at the Democratic primary for Hillsborough County State Attorney in Florida on Aug. 20. Elizabeth Martinez Strauss (D) and Andrew Warren (D) are running.

The primary is taking place after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) removed Warren from office in August 2022. The governor suspended Warren after Warren signed a pledge not to prosecute crimes related to abortion or gender transitions. In January 2023, a U.S. district court judge ruled that while Warren’s action was protected under the First Amendment, the court did not have the power to reinstate him.

In January 2024, a three-judge panel found that the court did have the power to reinstate Warren and remanded the case to the trial court to determine whether the governor’s suspension violated Warren’s rights. The trial court has yet to rule on whether to reinstate Warren.

Strauss is a defense attorney and former prosecutor. Strauss said she is running because Warren is too risky of a candidate given his past suspension: “Never make a bet you can’t afford to lose. Our county cannot afford to gamble on this election.”

Warren is an attorney and former federal prosecutor. Warren was elected state attorney in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. Warren is running on his record, saying, “In 2020, you re-elected me to serve as your State Attorney because you believed in my vision and it worked. Crime went down 30%…we made Hillsborough the safest large county in Florida. But on August 4, 2022, Ron DeSantis threw out your vote.”

The winner of the primary will face incumbent Suzy Lopez (R), who DeSantis appointed in August 2022. In an interview with the Florida Phoenix, analyst Barry Edwards said the county had shifted politically since Warren’s 2020 win, referencing changes in party registration as well as the results of the 2022 elections: “We’ve seen the performance of the county in 2022 — all the countywide and statewide Democrat candidates got wiped out…the county has changed to a red-performing county.”

A state attorney is an elected official who serves as the lead prosecutor for a specific jurisdiction. The office’s responsibilities include managing the jurisdiction’s prosecutors, setting department-wide guidelines for prosecutors to follow, and directing management of individual high-profile prosecutions.

The Florida Thirteenth Circuit State Attorney is the chief prosecutor for Florida’s Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, which includes Hillsborough County and its incorporated cities—including Tampa. There are 20 judicial circuits in Florida.