Legislation to raise the minimum wage dies on the Senate floor

An effort to give voters a chance to decide if the minimum wage should be raised to nine dollars an hour has died in the Louisiana Senate. New Orleans Senator Troy Carter says the 26 votes needed to send his proposal to the House are not there…

“I am so sorry to report today regrettably that we are woefully short, and we do not have the votes.”

It’s a legislative defeat for Governor John Bel Edwards who has backed legislation to increase the minimum wage, but the Republican-controlled legislature does not support it.

But New Orleans Senator Wesley Bishop says that’s a shame because a recent LSU poll found Louisiana voters support a higher minimum wage

“I think we know that if we gave the people of the state of Louisiana the right to vote how the vote would probably turn out.”

Bishop says he knows he’ll hear from his constituents who are disappointed that the legislature failed again to increase the minimum wage…

“What happened when you went to legislature? You got this passed, you didn’t get this passed but the question that I get a lot is why couldn’t you guys get more done for the people of the state of Louisiana.”

No one spoke out against a proposal in debate on the Senate floor. Business lobbyist groups have said a higher minimum wage would hurt the state’s economy.