AB 1169

Currently, the state minimum wage law requires that employers pay the applicable minimum wage set in statute to their employees. Under that law, the current minimum wage for most employees is $7.25 per hour. This bill raises the minimum wage for most employees to $15 per hour three months after the effective date of the bill.

Beginning one year after the bill’s effective date, the Department of Workforce Development is required to annually revise the minimum wage established under the bill by determining the percentage difference between the consumer price index for the preceding year and the consumer price index for the year before the preceding year, adjusting the minimum wage then in effect by that percentage difference, and rounding that result to the nearest multiple of five cents. However, DWD is not required to revise the general minimum wage if the consumer price index for the preceding year has not increased over the consumer price index for the year before the preceding year. DWD is required to publish the revised minimum wage in the Wisconsin Administrative Register and on DWD’s website.

The bill also repeals 1) provisions establishing a separate, lower minimum wage for tipped employees; 2) a provision requiring DWD to promulgate rules governing the counting of tips or similar gratuities toward payment of the minimum wage; 3) provisions setting specific meal and lodging allowances; and 4) provisions establishing minimum wages for minor employees, opportunity employees, agricultural employees, and others. The bill requires DWD to establish by rule the minimum wage for those employees.

Finally, current law prohibits a city, village, town, or county from enacting and administering an ordinance establishing a minimum wage. The bill eliminates that prohibition.