Raising the state minimum wage to $15 an hour has been a long-term goal of progressive advocates and labor unions, but small business groups have attacked it as a job killer.
Both Massachusetts and Connecticut have approved multiyear minimum wage increases that maintain higher wages than the legislation passed by the Senate. Massachusetts is set to get to $15 an hour by Jan. 1, 2023 and Connecticut by June 1 of the same year.
Senate leaders passed up on a more aggressive proposal from Sen. Frank Ciccone, a Providence Democrat, which, in addition to moving to a $15 minimum wage by July, 2023, would have raised the tipped minimum wage and created automatic inflation-triggered increases in the minimum wage after 2024.