The Senate Workforce Committee has approved a bill that would prohibit political subdivisions from making local ordinances that regulate the benefits employers provide to their employees.
The bill, SB 399, would be known as the Employer Benefits Requirements Uniformity Act.
Senator Richard Ojeda (D – Logan) said he was concerned about the bill’s ability to prevent economically growing cities and towns from being able to raise minimum wage for their employees.
“This kind of seems to be tying the hands of local government,” Ojeda said.
President of the West Virginia Retailers Association, Bridget Lambert spoke against the bill and said it would be a burden on those who are trying to expand their businesses across different municipalities.
“This would be harmful to a lot of businesses,” Lambert said.
Senator Ron Stollings (D – Boone) made a motion to have the bill put on layover until a member of the Municipal League was available to speak to the bill.
The motion was rejected.
Senator Randy Smith (R – Tucker) said that it is clear that the provisions of the bill are “not a big issue” to the Municipal League, since they were not present at the meeting.
Stollings said he still believes the bill has possible implications that need to be discussed further, as no one has yet spoken in favor of the bill.
Senator Glenn Jeffries (D – Putnam) said the committee would be denying cities and local leaders from being able to address the bill by reporting it out of committee without giving them a chance to defend the needed “flexibility” of local wage rates.
The bill will be referred to Senate Judiciary once reported to the full Senate.
