MI House committee passes minimum wage increase

A Michigan House committee has passed a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $8.50 an hour by 2017.

The House Government Operations Committee approved a version of Michigan Senate Bill 934 earlier today. The measure now goes to the full House for consideration.

The House committee’s version would raise the rate for tipped employees, which is currently $2.65, to $3.23. It also would not tie future increases to the rate of inflation. The version passed by the full Senate earlier this month would do that and would also raise the minimum wage from $7.40 an hour to $9.20 in the same amount of time.

Critics from the Raise Michigan coalition see the minimum wage proposals as a way to keep their ballot measure from reaching Michigan voters. The group’s proposal would raise the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 for both regular and tipped employees. Raise Michigan would also tie the minimum wage to inflation.