A political committee backing a proposed constitutional amendment that would increase the minimum wage in Florida is moving toward meeting an initial threshold for getting the measure on the 2020 ballot.
The committee Florida For A Fair Wage, which is led by prominent Orlando attorney John Morgan, had submitted 55,284 valid petition signatures to the state Division of Elections as of mid-day Wednesday, according to the division’s website. The committee needs to submit 76,632 petitions to trigger a review of the proposed ballot wording by the Florida Supreme Court — a key initial step in getting on the ballot.
If the Supreme Court signs off on the wording, the committee then would have to submit an overall total of 766,200 valid signatures to reach the ballot. Under the proposal, the state’s minimum wage would go to $10 an hour on Sept. 30, 2021 and increase by $1 each year until it hits $15 an hour on Sept. 30, 2026. The state’s minimum wage this year is $8.46 an hour.
Morgan, who spearheaded a 2016 constitutional amendment that broadly legalized medical marijuana, held a news conference last month saying the political committee had collected more than 120,000 petition signatures for the minimum-wage measure.
Signatures Pile Up for Minimum Wage Measure added by The News Service of Florida on
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The real John Morgan
Orlando attorney John Morgan avoids jail time after headbutting a cop and calling him a ‘fat fucker’
https://www.orlandoweekly.com/orlando/raising-a-toast-to-the-legal-system/Content?oid=2264937
My recent experiences at several “fast food” establishments indicate that many employees are fortunate to be working, even at a minmum wage salary. Basic skills such as adding and subtracting seem to be in short supply. The turnover must be horrific and expensive for employers.
Looks like Morgan is determined to wreck the booming Florida economy. You know why foreigners love to buy American currency? Because of the hyperflation their own currency experiences – at least the dollar will hold its value for awhile.
I had one of these signature gatherers harass me outside of the Walmart near Apalachee and Capital Circle SE. I refused to sign and pointed out that if John Morgan wanted to increase the wages of Florida workers, he’d be smarter trying to eliminate foreign guest worker visas rather than raising the minimum wage. Business owners would be equally opposed to both measures, but economically-literate Americans who understand the concept of supply-and-demand would support the former and not the latter.
The H-1B visa (and it’s ugly cousin, the Optional Practical Training [OPT] program) depresses wages in the STEM industry and encourages age discrimination because companies have a huge pool of younger (and thus cheaper) workers from which they can hire. Without H-1B, wages of existing workers would naturally rise as the market competed for them. It would also benefit skilled workers not currently in the STEM industry because companies would be forced to train (e.g. coding bootcamps) and apprentice new hires instead of requiring a ridiculous list of thirty or more “must-have” skills for each position.
The goal of most H-1B workers is to eventually get a Green Card and ultimately US citizenship. This has a long-term political effect because the vast majority of H-1Bs come from socialist-leaning and/or authoritarian countries whose views are antithetical to the American way of life. Wonder why Silicon Valley companies are so left-wing? It’s not simply because they are located in the Bay Area, but rather because half of the company’s employees are either a current or former visa holder.
The H-2B visa depresses wages in unskilled industries because companies can import workers who are willing to work for a lower wage because they return to their country of origin where the lower wage has much more value. Without H-2B, companies would be forced to pay higher wages, attracting more Americans to those industries. The argument “those are jobs Americans don’t want to do” comes purely from the fact that the employer is not paying a wage commensurate with the value of the work performed for a worker living in the US.
Unfortunately, Republican legislators want cheap labor while Democrat legislators want voters, so the importation of foreign guest workers is likely to continue unabated for the foreseeable future.
Maybe we should establish a fixed low fee schedule for attorneys so the average person can afford them then they wouldn’t be flush with all that money so they would be in the real world and understand you can’t pay people a high minimum wage and stay in business
As of 2017 almost no one makes minimum wage. Im sure Morgan will feel good about pushing for a law which has no impact but driving up inflation. Does he actually have any evidence of any actual need for this?
https://www.bls.gov/oes/2017/may/oes_fl.htm
When I tell all of my customers the price for getting their yard mowed just went up, the plight of the minimum wage earner will get about as much sympathy as dollar weed.
“Ignorance is Bliss”-
Typical of the Socialist Agenda “everyone is worth the same” regardless of how productive they are, what their attitude is like, how long they’ve worked there. I know all businesses are “evil”, & who cares how much money the evil capitalists had to borrow to open their business, how many years they went without pay or raises or vacation time so they could employ, pay benefits & give raises to their employee’s. Ironically a Billionaire attorney is spearheading this.
Look at what Walmart is doing at the Thomasville Road store. Almost all of the checkouts are self serve now. A $15.00 minimum wage will accelerate more business to do this sooner.
I’m exasperated at progressives’ consistent ability to incorrectly identify issues, which just as consistently leads them to the wrong conclusion / answer. The very idea of “what has a 30-something year old individual done or not done to only have a minimum-wage skill set” seems to escape them, whereas the “this person deserves more income” mindset entirely fails to address any of the issues that have given us 30-year-olds that have no skills worth more than minimum wage.
Terrible economic move!
It never ceases to stun me the dots advocates of this fail to connect. Labor is a huge part of the cost of food, this is especially true in food service arenas where first jobs are often found. Raising minimum wage is not going to give people more purchasing power from the “dollar menu,” it’s going to make it into the “three dollar menu.”
You’re absolutely correct. Basic economics is so lacking in the general population.
At least 1.
https://dos.elections.myflorida.com/committees/ComDetail.asp?account=70115
One more reason to turn off the volume on my car radio when the M & M ads come on!
How many Business Owners are on that list of Signatures? Any amount over $10 will surely put a lot of Businesses OUT of Business.