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Minimum Wage Plan Moving Forward In Oregon Legislature

M.O. Stevens
/
Wikimedia Commons http://bit.ly/225LXJl

A plan to hike Oregon's minimum wage is moving forward in the Oregon Legislature. A measure cleared a committee Friday and is headed for a vote on the Senate floor.

The proposal would increase Oregon's minimum wage to as high as $14.75 per hour over the next six years. The exact amount depends on where you live. The bill sets up three different minimum wages: One for the Portland metro area, a lower one for mid-size communities, and the lowest for rural parts of the state.

That's a change from the plan floated by Governor Kate Brown. And the two groups trying to get a minimum wage hike on the ballot have given the proposal mixed reviews.

It comes as business groups opposed to a minimum wage hike are launching a statewide ad campaign blasting what they call Portland special interests for pushing the plan forward.

The ad targets Democrats who serve rural districts. If the Senate approves the minimum wage hike, the bill would head to the Oregon House.

Copyright 2016 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.
Chris Lehman
Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.