JUNEAU, Alaska — House Speaker Mike Chenault says legislative passage of a bill to raise the state’s minimum wage would guarantee that wages go up, while the outcome of a similar ballot initiative is up in the air.
Chenault says it’s an important issue in trying to move Alaska forward.
An initiative can be pre-empted if the Legislature passes substantially similar legislation. That happened in 2002, and a year later, lawmakers gutted the law.
Critics fear a repeat of that but Chenault says that’s not his intention.
Language in HB384, which advanced from a House committee on Wednesday, tracks closely with the initiative.
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