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2006 Budget Session
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Current Wyoming law requires that all employers pay their employees a minimum wage of $5.15 per hour, matching the federal minimum wage. But in an interesting exception to minimum wage requirements, employers are required to pay only $2.13 per hour to tipped employees, and they are required to pay only $4.25 per hour to any employees under 20 years old for the first 90 days of employment. If the wage paid to tipped employees combined with the tips earned by the employee during a given pay period does not equal at least $5.15 per hour, then the employer is supposed to pay the difference to the tipped employee.
In 2005, a bill that would have eliminated the reduced minimum wage for tipped employees and employees under 20 failed to pass the Legislature.
Instead of completely eliminating the reduced minimum wage, HB 50 would have raised the minimum wage for tipped employees to $4.00 per hour. The bill would not have changed the reduced minimum wage for employees who are under 20 years of age.
Supporters of HB 50 included the Wyoming AFL-CIO, the Wyoming League of Women Voters, the Equality State Policy Center, and other advocates for worker's rights. Proponents pointed out that tipped employees are among the lowest paid of Wyoming workers, and that employers often do not meet the statutory requirement to make up the difference when tipped employees don't make a total of $5.15 per hour. Proponents testified that employers frequently do not explain this right to their workers, and that tipped employees often don't know their employers are supposed to do this. They also maintained that some tipped employees, even when they do know they are entitled to a total minimum wage of $5.15 an hour, are too intimidated and afraid of losing their job to request that their employer make up the difference to meet the minimum wage.
Opponents of HB 50 worried it would place an undue burden on small business owners if they had to pay their tipped employees more than $2.13 an hour.
HB 50 failed the vote for introduction in the House, 22-36 (2 excused). The votes listed below are the House votes for introduction. A YES vote means the representative wanted to consider increasing the minimum wage for tipped employees in Wyoming. A NO vote means the representative did not wish to consider raising the minimum wage for tipped employees.
| Bighorn Basin Legislators | House Intro 2/16/06 |
|
| S 18 | Hank Coe (R) | |
| H 24 | Colin Simpson (R) | No |
| H 50 | Pat Childers (R) | No |
| S 19 | Laness D. Northrup (R) | |
| H 25 | Alan Jones (R) | No |
| H 26 | Elaine Harvey (R) | Yes |
| S 20 | Gerald E. Geis (R) | |
| H 27 | Debbie Hammons (D) | Yes |
| H 28 | Lorraine Quarberg (R) | Excused |
| Casper-Area Legislators | House Intro 2/16/06 |
|
| S 27 | John Barrasso (R) | |
| H 35 | Roy Cohee (R) | No |
| H 36 | Gerald Gay (R) | No |
| S 28 | Kit Jennings (R) | |
| H 56 | Tom Walsh (R) | Yes |
| H 57 | Thomas A. Lockhart (R) | No |
| S 29 | Bill Hawks (R) | |
| H 37 | Steve Harshman (R) | No |
| H 59 | Mary Gilmore (D) | Yes |
| S 30 | Charles K. Scott (R) | |
| H 38 | Bob Brechtel (R) | Yes |
| H 58 | Ann Robinson (D) | Yes |
| Cheyenne-Area Legislators | House Intro 2/16/06 |
|
| S 4 | Tony Ross (R) | |
| H 7 | Doug Samuelson (R) | No |
| H 41 | Becket Hinckley (R) | No |
| S 5 | John Hanes (R) | |
| H 8 | Larry Meuli (R) | No |
| H 42 | Pete Illoway (R) | No |
| S 6 | Wayne H. Johnson (R) | |
| H 9 | Bryan Pedersen (R) | No |
| H 10 | Rodney "Pete" Anderson (R) | No |
| S 7 | Kathryn Sessions (D) | |
| H 11 | Wayne Reese (D) | Yes |
| H 43 | Dan Zwonitzer (R) | Yes |
| S 8 | E. Jayne Mockler (D) | |
| H 12 | Layton Morgan (D) | Yes |
| H 44 | Floyd Esquibel (D) | Yes |
| Gillette-Area Legislators | House Intro 2/16/06 |
|
| S 23 | John Hines (R) | |
| H 31 | Thomas E. Lubnau II (R) | No |
| H 52 | Burke Jackson (R) | Excused |
| S 24 | Michael Von Flatern (R) | |
| H 32 | Jeff Wasserburger (R) | Yes |
| H 53 | Erin Mercer (R) | No |
| Lander/Riverton-Area Legislators | House Intro 2/16/06 |
|
| S 25 | Cale Case (R) | |
| H 33 | W. Patrick Goggles (D) | Yes |
| H 54 | Del McOmie (R) | No |
| S 26 | Robert A. Peck (R) | |
| H 34 | Frank Philp (R) | No |
| H 55 | David Miller (R) | No |
| Northeast/East Central WY Legislators | House Intro 2/16/06 |
|
| S 1 | C.L. Townsend (R) | |
| H 1 | Mark Semlek (R) | No |
| H 2 | Ross Diercks (D) | Yes |
| S 2 | Jim Anderson (R) | |
| H 5 | James C. Hageman (R) | Yes |
| H 6 | Dave Edwards (R) | No |
| S 3 | Curt Meier (R) | |
| H 3 | Deborah Alden (R) | No |
| H 4 | Edward A. Buchanan (R) | No |
| Sheridan-Area Legislators | House Intro 2/16/06 |
|
| S 21 | Bruce Burns (R) | |
| H 29 | Jerry Iekel (R) | No |
| H 51 | Rosie Berger (R) | No |
| S 22 | John Schiffer (R) | |
| H 30 | Jack Landon (R) | No |
| H 40 | Doug Osborn (R) | No |
| South Central WY Legislators | House Intro 2/16/06 |
|
| S 9 | Mike Massie (D) | |
| H 13 | Jane Warren (D) | Yes |
| H 45 | Kevin A. White (R) | No |
| S 10 | Phil Nicholas (R) | |
| H 14 | Kermit C. Brown (R) | No |
| H 46 | James Slater (R) | No |
| S 11 | Bill Vasey (D) | |
| H 15 | George Bagby (D) | Yes |
| H 47 | Kurt Bucholz (R) | No |
| Southwest WY Legislators | House Intro 2/16/06 |
|
| S 12 | Rae Lynn Job (D) | |
| H 48 | Marty Martin (D) | Yes |
| H 16 | Pete Jorgensen (D) | Yes |
| S 13 | Tex Boggs (D) | |
| H 17 | Stephen Watt (R) | Yes |
| H 60 | Bill Thompson (D) | Yes |
| S 14 | Stan Cooper (R) | |
| H 18 | Mick Powers (R) | No |
| H 39 | John Hastert (D) | Yes |
| S 15 | Ken Decaria (D) | |
| H 19 | Owen Petersen (R) | No |
| H 49 | Bruce Barnard (R) | No |
| West Central WY Legislators | House Intro 2/16/06 |
|
| S 16 | Pat Aullman (R) | |
| H 20 | Kathy Davison (R) | Yes |
| H 21 | Randall Luthi (R) | No |
| S 17 | Grant Larson (R) | |
| H 22 | Monte Olsen (R) | No |
| H 23 | Keith Gingery (R) | No |
See Southwest Region for H 16 and S 12 | ||