Committee supports increase to minimum wage

Hartford -- The Labor and Public Committee voted 7-3 in favor of a Senate bill that seeks to raise the state’s minimum wage to $9 per hour on July 1, from $8.25 per hour.

The bill also proposes to base the future minimum wage on Consumer Price Index increases.

“One-hundred percent of the wage workers are going to have a positive impact by this bill,” state Rep. Ezequiel Santiago, D-Bridgeport. “Yes, there are going to be some negative affects on smaller ‘mom and pop” businesses.”

But those businesses make up a small percentage of companies that pay minimum wage, he said. Companies such as Costco and McDonald's make up a larger percentage of minimum wage payers, he said.

State Rep. Richard Smith, R-New Fairfield, disagreed.

“I thought I heard 85 percent of Connecticut’s businesses were small businesses,” he said.

He said this bill would also cause other workers to ask for raises after they heard about their fellow employees getting an increase.

Raising the minimum wage prevents a business from hiring other employees and potentially causes a loss of income, he said.