Republicans just keep showing exactly how committed they are to their famous love of local control: not at all. At least not when it comes to cities and towns that want to help workers by passing laws like minimum wage increases. Birmingham, Alabama, is the latest victim of a minimum wage pre-emption law:
Alabama’s governor and legislature Thursday blocked Birmingham’s attempts to raise the city’s minimum wage as they swiftly approved legislation to strip cities of their ability to set hourly pay requirements.
The Alabama senate passed the legislation on a 23-11 vote that largely broke along party lines. Governor Robert Bentley signed the bill into law about an hour later. The legislation voids a Birmingham city ordinance attempting to raise the city’s minimum wage to $10.10, the city’s legal department said Thursday afternoon.
Alabama Republicans aren’t alone. A similar bill is moving ahead in Idaho, and several other states have either passed or tried to pass such laws, targeting not just minimum wage but paid sick leave laws. This all comes thanks in part to a major push from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), because we can’t have cities, towns, or counties improving conditions for workers, can we? Not if there’s a Republican-controlled state government to put a stop to it.