Greg--Federal law authorizes a sub-minimum wage. See the link. As someone who has worked around legislatures in California (I was a staffer for the Governor of California and a State Assemblyman for several years back in the 80s) heres how a bill gets written and introduced. A legislator gets an idea--in this case Liz was approached by a constituent restaurant owner who is Democrat and might even be a FB friend of yours about what the wage was doing to his business. She takes the idea to leg counsel or leg analysts to review the law for legality and consistency with other state and federal laws--including the state and federal constitutions. The legislator is usually not a lawyer and relies on these people. Our laws are so complex that there is no other way for this to work. In this case, as far as I can tell, no mistake has been made but if there was, it would be the responsibility of legislative staff. Sometimes legislators bring forward a proposal theyve been told is legally suspect to make political points but I dont think this is the case here. I did hear Lizs opponent or one of her friends in attendance, I think, suggest at the recent Townhall that this proposal violated age discrimination laws but the Feds clearly do it themselves. Maybe the Washington Constitutions Privileges and Immunities Clause prohibits this where the Federal Constitution might not but Im aware of no case authority on that--I havent been called on to research that. The Washington Constitution has no Equal Protection provision. Age classifications are not as suspect as a matter of federal constitutional law as racial, legitimacy, and alienage classifications are. I havent asked whether that issue was looked at.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 05:40:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015