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Amend the bill by striking out the title and substituting the following:
‘An Act To Protect Maine's Economy by Slowing the Rate at Which the State's Minimum Wage Will Increase and Establishing a Youth Wage’
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and before the emergency clause and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1. 26 MRSA §664, sub-§1, as amended by IB 2015, c. 2, §1, is further amended to read:
 
1. Minimum wage.   The minimum hourly wage is $7.50 per hour. Starting January 1, 2017, the minimum hourly wage is $9.00 per hour; starting January 1, 2018, the minimum hourly wage is $10.00 per hour; starting January 1, 2019, the minimum hourly wage is $11.00 per hour; and starting. Starting January 1, 2020, the minimum hourly wage is $12.00$10.50 per hour; starting January 1, 2021, the minimum hourly wage is $11.00 per hour; starting January 1, 2022, the minimum hourly wage is $11.50 per hour; and starting January 1, 2023, the minimum hourly wage is $12.00 per hour. On January 1, 20212024 and each January 1st thereafter, the minimum hourly wage then in effect must be increased by the increase, if any, in the cost of living. The increase in the cost of living must be measured by the percentage increase, if any, as of August of the previous year over the level as of August of the year preceding that year in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, CPI-W, for the Northeast Region, or its successor index, as published by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics or its successor agency, with the amount of the minimum wage increase rounded to the nearest multiple of 5¢. If the highest federal minimum wage is increased in excess of the minimum wage in effect under this section, the minimum wage under this section is increased to the same amount, effective on the same date as the increase in the federal minimum wage, and must be increased in accordance with this section thereafter.
Sec. 2.  26 MRSA §664, sub-§1-A  is enacted to read:
 
1-A.  Minimum wage for youths.     Notwithstanding subsection 1, the following minimum wage rate may be paid to an employee who is an unemancipated minor under 18 years of age for the first 200 work hours of employment:
 
A.  The greater of:
 
(1) Eighty percent of the minimum wage in effect pursuant to subsection 1, rounded to the nearest 5 cents; and
’
 
(2) The minimum wage required by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
 
SUMMARY
This amendment, which is the minority report of the committee, strikes and replaces the bill. It amends the minimum wage law by keeping the current minimum wage of $10 per hour until January 1, 2020, when the minimum hourly wage rate is increased to $10.50. On January 1st from 2021 to 2023 the minimum hourly wage rate is increased 50¢ per year, ending in a $12 minimum hourly wage rate in 2023. Beginning January 1, 2024, the minimum hourly wage rate is increased by any increase in the annual cost of living, as is scheduled in current law for 2021.
The amendment also establishes a special minimum wage applicable to unemancipated minors under 18 years of age for the first 200 work hours of employment. This wage must be at least the minimum wage required by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act or 80% of the generally applicable minimum wage under state law, whichever is greater.
FISCAL NOTE REQUIRED
(See attached)