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Senate committee advances phased minimum-wage increase to $15 by 2028; moves bill to Rules
Summary
The Senate Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance voted to advance bill 36-0030 as amended, approving a three-year, phased increase that would raise the USVI minimum wage to $12 on March 1, 2026, $14 on March 1, 2027 and $15 on March 1, 2028, with an annual COLA beginning in 2029; the measure moves to Rules and Judiciary.
Senators on the Committee on Budget, Appropriations and Finance voted to advance bill 36-0030, an amendment to Title 24 of the Virgin Islands Code that would phase up the territory's minimum wage to $15 an hour over three years and establish an annual cost-of-living adjustment beginning in 2029.
The bill's primary sponsor, Senator Franklin D. Johnson, framed the measure as a correction to years of wage stagnation. "If you walk in the Virgin Islands, you should be able to live in the Virgin Islands," Johnson said in presenting the bill, noting that the current $10.50 minimum wage has not kept pace with local price increases since 2018.
Why it matters: government analysts and labor officials told the committee the territory's buying power eroded substantially after 2018, affecting the lowest-paid workers and…
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