A Florida measure on the November ballot that would boost the minimum wage to $15 an hour has less to do with helping low-wage workers and more to do with ginning up turnout in the presidential election, according to the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
In addition, personal injury attorneys are spending millions of dollars to sway Floridians’ position on Constitutional Amendment 2, according to a September press release published by the chamber. Indeed, Orlando attorney John Morgan and his law firms are the top funders of the Amendment 2 campaign, providing nearly $4.2 million, according to the nonprofit website Ballotpedia.com.
“The Florida Chamber believes personal injury attorneys are financing the ballot measure with motivation to increase voter turnout and attain a certain outcome in the presidential election,” David Hart, the chamber’s executive vice president of government and political relations, told the Florida Record in an email. “If passed, a $15 minimum wage mandate will certainly cost Florida jobs. This is not what we need as we work to relaunch Florida’s economy.”
And if the measure is approved by state voters on Nov. 3, Florida would become the first state in the nation with a constitutionally mandated $15 minimum wage, the chamber said. Amendment 2 would ramp up the wage by $1 annually through 2026.
“Further, we know this amendment will cause Florida to lose hundreds of thousands of jobs, drive up inflation and cost Florida taxpayers more than $700 million in lost revenue,” the chamber’s news release states.
Supporters of the measure, however, argue that the state’s current minimum wage – $8.46 per hour – generates only $17,600 per year for a full-time worker, which they say is not a livable level of income for hard-working families in Florida.
The top five donors on the anti-Amendment 2 side, which include the National Restaurant Association, Florida Petroleum Marketers’ Association and the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, ponied up $280,000, according to the Ballotpedia tally.
State and local government costs would increase $16 million in 2022 and would reach more than $500 million by 2027, according to a financial impact statement describing the likely impacts of Amendment 2. This could lead to higher taxes or reductions in government services, the statement says.
A study conducted by university economists found that Amendment 2 would ax 158,000 jobs in the state, on top of the 336,000 it has already shed due to the coronavirus pandemic. And Florida TaxWatch concluded that the measure would cause businesses to have to spend $7.3 billion more per year if they were to maintain the current number of jobs.
A 60 percent supermajority vote is needed to approve the amendment.