UPDATE 5:15 pm: State lawmakers have sent Gov. Rick Snyder a bill that would ban local minimum wage and benefit laws. The bill does not apply to ordinances adopted before this year.
Local minimum wage and benefit ordinances in place before this year would no longer be preempted by a controversial bill in the state Legislature.
The state House changed House Bill 4052 so that it would only apply to local ordinances adopted after January 1, 2015. It would still stop communities from passing new laws setting local minimum wages and benefits.
The bill’s Republican sponsor says it’s a compromise.
“I’m happy about getting a bill through the House and the Senate and making sure we have the governor’s signature on it when the time comes,” said state Rep. Earl Poleski (R-Jackson).
Poleski declined to answer whether the governor’s office requested the change.
Democrats and some Republicans have criticized the bill. They say the bill is better than it was when the House first passed it last month. But they say it’s still a blatant attack on local control.
“I definitely think that this bill as substituted isn’t as far-reaching and egregious as it was. I still think, though, that there are going to be some ramifications for the city of Detroit,” said state Rep. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit), who represents a city that has taken a lead role in adopting such ordinances.
“It’s unfortunate that not all of my colleagues really saw how broad the ramifications still can be even though the language was changed,” she said. “Hopefully our governor will be able to see what those ramifications are.”
The state Senate will need to approve the change before it goes to Gov. Rick Snyder’s desk.