South Dakota voters increased the minimum wage from $7.50 to $8.50 last year. Shortly after, the state legislature passed a bill to keep youth minimum wage at the original rate. A referendum petition has enough signatures to prevent the bill being enacted and put before a public vote.
The Secretary of State has certified a referendum petition to prevent a youth minimum wage cut in South Dakota.
Cory Heidelberger is an organizer of the effort. He says now voters will decide the youth wage.
“You know they passed senate bill 177 in the face of the voters. The voters said we want the minimum wage to be $8.50, period. The legislature said oh that’s not what voters meant. Let’s change what the voters said. Just 2 months after it passed for Pete’s sake,” Heidelberger adds.
South Dakota Republican Senator David Novstrup cosigned the original bill. He says a lower youth minimum-wage will help students find jobs in a competitive job market.
“It’s going to impact young people that haven’t has a job before because they don’t have the experience. Once people get that first job that were already in the job market, they’re going to earn more than that because they can prove that they deserve to make more,” says Novstrup.
Novstrup says the law is likely to only affect rural areas of South Dakota. The successful petition will put the youth pay-cut on hold until voters decide the issue next fall.