Republicans oppose minimum-wage and misclassification bills after citing $2.8 billion small-business impact; committee rereports both

The House Appropriations Committee voted to rereport House Bill 276, which would create an employee misclassification working group, and House Bill 1549, which would raise the minimum wage in Pennsylvania, while Republican members said they plan to oppose both measures on the House floor.

"On these two particular bills, we do have some concerns from a fiscal standpoint," a Republican member told the committee, citing a Department of Revenue study. The member said the study "indicated that [an] increase in the minimum wage across this Commonwealth would result in a $2,800,000,000 loss to small businesses, roughly the loss of about 12,000 jobs, and a decrease of about $300,000,000 in wages for the employees of some of these businesses." The committee record shows the member then stated, "And with that stated, all Republicans will be a no on these pieces of legislation."

After discussion the chair announced the measures would be rereported to the House. "Seeing that the ayes have it, House Bill 276 and House Bill 1549 will be rereported from the committee," Chairman Harris said, according to the meeting transcript.

The remarks in committee focused on fiscal projections and potential impacts on small businesses and employment; no committee vote tallies were recorded in the transcript excerpt. The bills will undergo further consideration on the House floor, where the Republican delegation indicated it will record opposition. The meeting then adjourned.