Md. Minimum-Wage Bill Clears Key Senate Hurdle; Implementation Would Take Until 2018

Gov. Martin O’Malley’s proposal to raise Maryland’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour advanced in the Senate on Wednesday, but only after a key committee stretched out the timetable two years beyond what the governor had proposed.

The Senate Finance committee amended the bill so that the statewide minimum would reach $10.10 by mid-2018, providing a boost in pay for several hundred thousand low-wage workers but increasing the payroll of many employers.

“We tried to help the business community by slowing it down,” said Sen. Thomas M. Midldeton (D-Charles), chairman of the Finance committee.

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