Lowry Proposes Minimum-Wage Hike Governor Admits His Proposals Are ‘Heavy Lifting’ But Hopes Wage Hike Will Help Cut Welfare Rolls

Gov. Mike Lowry on Wednesday urged the Legislature to boost Washington’s minimum wage to $5.30 a hour to keep pace with inflation.

The proposal was among the 19 measures included in the Democratic governor’s “Kids, Jobs and the Environment” package for the upcoming session.

Some, like the minimum wage proposal, face built-in heavy opposition and others, like his plans for state civil-service reform and overhaul of the juvenile justice system, are reruns of Lowry plans considered, but defeated, in previous sessions.

“It’s heavy lifting, but much of it is doable,” Lowry said in an interview. “I hope the Legislature will respond.”

He conceded that he would set himself up for a better success record if he had picked issues that already are popular with the Legislature. Some, including the higher minimum wage, may take several years to push through, he said.

“If it takes a little while, it takes a little while,” he said.

Some of the highlights:

Minimum wage - Lowry would boost the hourly minimum from the current $4.90 to $5.30, effective Jan. 1, 1997. An estimated 200,000 would be affected.

Don Brunell, head of the Association of Washington Business, said the proposal probably will fail.

“Anytime you mandate the wage by government edict, you end up forcing a certain portion of entry-level jobs to go away,” he said. “It also has the impact of driving wages up.”

Lowry said that’s what he has in mind. Erosion of wages and a shortage of family-wage jobs are critical problems, even though the economy is expanding, he told reporters. Despite the overall health of the economy, Washington workers have actually lost earning power since 1979, he said.

The Republican-controlled House is expected to resist the plan. Lowry said he hopes he can sell it as “good family policy” and a way to keep people off welfare.”We haven’t discussed this at all,” said Senate Majority Leader Sid Snyder, D-Long Beach. “This is something brand new on the table.”

Rails and trails - Lowry hopes to foster a 250-mile recreation trail from Puget Sound to the Idaho border and to open up more rail in the same corridor. The state would sell rail franchises for some of the right-of-way it acquired from the bankrupt Milwaukee Road in 1981.

Crime - Lowry wants to beef up the penalties for domestic violence and get tougher on crime by juveniles.

Tobacco - The governor is seeking further restrictions on sale of tobacco products to minors.

Braille - Lowry wants to mandate broader instruction in Braille for the blind or visually impaired. It would cost $56,000 in the current budget.

Whistleblower - Lowry and Auditor Brian Sonntag want to expand the state’s whistleblower law. Currently, public employees are protected from firing or harassment for reporting fraud.

Phone your officials - Lowry wants to make it a free telephone call to get the number of elected officials from the phone company.