ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) – The passage of Ballot Measure 1 The November 2024 election has local business owners sharing their fears for their businesses.
Ballot Measure 1, which passed with 57.98% approvalwill increase the minimum wage in Alaska starting in 2025. The ballot text specifies after annual increases starting in 2025 with $13/hour, $14/hour in 2026 and $15/hour in 2027. “The minimum wage (in Alaska) would still be at least $2 above the federal minimum wage.
In addition to raising the minimum wage in the state, the ballot measure will require paid sick leave for employees – 40 hours or more for most employees, and 56 hours for employers with 15 or more employees. The sick leave granted would also continue into the following year.
Unrelated to wages or benefits, Ballot Measure 1 also prohibits employers from requiring employees to attend a meeting regarding religious or political matters.
At a meeting held at 49th State Brewing in downtown Anchorage, local business owners said they felt concerned about the impact the ballot measure could have on their profits.
“What benefits? a participant proclaimed member of the Chamber of Commerce spoke during a panel about what he expects from the change.
During the panel, many people spoke about the difficulties small business owners have faced during the pandemic, with one panelist noting that profit margins still have not returned to their former state.
Celeste Hodge Growden, president and CEO of the Alaska Black Caucus, said she attended the meeting because she didn’t know what to expect now that the ballot measure had passed.
“I am a non-profit organization with a limited number of employees. And last year we hired employees for the first time,” Hodge Growden said. “I am here, honestly, to secure, to obtain information to report to see if we will still be able to keep the employees.”
Hodge Growden voted “yes” on Ballot Measure 1 – she said she supports increasing the minimum wage for employees (which currently sits at $11.73/hour).
“We pay way more than minimum wage,” Hodge Growden said. “But even though this vote passed, one of the things we couldn’t offer was paid leave.”
Other business owners who attended the meeting said the same thing; they came to see if they could clear up the uncertainty about how the ballot measure would take effect.
As of this writing, the ballot text states that the pay increases will take effect on July 1 of each year until 2027.
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