# Why not raise the minimum wage with local ordinances? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 5, 2021, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-raise-the-minimum-wage-with-local-ordinances/941477 "2021-05-05T19:32:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-raise-the-minimum-wage-with-local-ordinances/941477/61 "2021-05-07T22:20:13Z")
I stand by all my assumptions. A single adult working 40 hours per week at minimum wage can, or at least I think they can, get health insurance through the individual marketplace at $10/mo with federal subsidies. See also my response to **DMC** , [post #60](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/941477/60). ~Max ETA: Working $10 for forty hours a week will disqualify one from Florida’s Medicaid program, but I put the numbers into [healthcare.gov](http://healthcare.gov) and qualified for a $442/mo premium tax credit. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-raise-the-minimum-wage-with-local-ordinances/941477/62 "2021-05-07T23:04:55Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Maybe, if you have a roommate. But even then, that’s stretching it a bit. Cheapest 2 bed around here is a bit over 1200 a month, and it’s in a sketchy part of town. Just as a sanity check, I went and found three different cheap apartments within 1 mile of downtown (for the city where _I_ live). All three had 1 bed 1 bath offerings under $650/mo. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-raise-the-minimum-wage-with-local-ordinances/941477/63 "2021-05-07T23:06:49Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > The goal is not simplification. It would be immensly more simple to have a single national minimum wage at $13.10 or $15. As stated in the OP, the benefit of local minimum wage ordinances is that it would be _easier_ to pass local ordinances than national legislation. It’s easier to pass 89,000 different minimum wage ordinances than voting for a few senators that don’t want the poor to actually suffer on a daily basis? Apparently, we have different definitions of easy. If you just want to argue that we shouldn’t raise the floor to $15.00, power to you. We’ve been there and done that, so I’ll bow out now. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-raise-the-minimum-wage-with-local-ordinances/941477/64 "2021-05-07T23:14:43Z")
> [@DMC](#): > > It’s easier to pass 89,000 different minimum wage ordinances than voting for a few senators that don’t want the poor to actually suffer on a daily basis? You don’t have to pass ordinances in all 89,000 municipalities. I’m sure some are fine with their state minimum wage as it is. But yes, I do think it is easier to pass many many local ordinances than it is to get the United States Senate to agree with the most reasonable of progressive legislation. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-raise-the-minimum-wage-with-local-ordinances/941477/65 "2021-05-07T23:20:33Z")
We can already pass local ordinances to raise minimum wage. With the exception that some states shit on those increases, what exactly are you advocating? If you want to federally outlaw state overrides of municipal minimum wage increase proposals, sure, I’m on board. If you don’t, but are instead advocating letting municipalities set the wages, but under limitations set by the state, then why didn’t you simply frame the debate as: > Resolved: minimum wage should continue to be handled the way it currently is. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-raise-the-minimum-wage-with-local-ordinances/941477/66 "2021-05-07T23:23:55Z")
> [@DMC](#): > > We can already pass local ordinances to raise minimum wage. Yes, with new and notable exceptions (which I am largely against) you _can_. The point of the thread was that we _should_, or literally, why not? ~Max ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2021, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-raise-the-minimum-wage-with-local-ordinances/941477/67 "2021-05-07T23:26:58Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > The point of the thread was that we _should_ , or literally, why not? Now we have something concrete. No, we shouldn’t. Because some local governments don’t give a flying fuck about poor people. I believe that I’m done now. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2021, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-raise-the-minimum-wage-with-local-ordinances/941477/68 "2021-05-08T17:59:31Z")
> [@Max\_S](#): > > I knew it _could be_, but I had no idea this actually was prohibited by the states, except in New York. I guess that’s the reason why not, then. I recall a distinction between Home Rule vs Dillon’s Rule states, which I learned about (and mostly forgot about so will need to re-read) here: > **[Home rule in the United States](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_rule_in_the_United_States)** > > Home Rule in the United States relates to the authority of a constituent part of a U.S. state to exercise powers of governance; i.e.: whether those powers must be expressly delegated to it by the state (typically by legislative action) or are generally implicitly allowed unless specifically denied by state-level action. > This concept somewhat mirrors the notion of the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution, which reserves all powers to the states not (expressly) delegated to the US (nor "prohibit... Some localities can only pass laws that the state specifically permits them to pass, whereas other states have to specifically ban localities from passing laws. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-not-raise-the-minimum-wage-with-local-ordinances/941477.md?page=3)