PA House passes minimum wage, paid family leave bills

With budget hearings now in the rearview mirror, lawmakers in the Pennsylvania House closed out March by voting on a series of high-profile bills addressing everything from data centers and marriage equality to the minimum wage and paid family and medical leave. 

Below, City & State recaps some of the major votes from a busy week in Harrisburg.

Lawmakers pass bill to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $15 by 2029

Pennsylvania House lawmakers passed a major budget priority of Gov. Josh Shapiro this week, approving a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 by 2029.

The bill, House Bill 2189, is sponsored by Democratic state Rep. Jason Dawkins and passed by a vote of 104-95. If signed into law, the bill would phase in increases to Pennsylvania’s minimum wage, which hasn’t been increased since 2009.

Four Republicans – state Reps. Joe Emrick, Joe Hogan, Natalie Mihalek, and K.C. Tomlinson – voted in favor of the bill along with all but a few Democrats. 

Shapiro called for an increase in the state’s minimum wage during his February budget address, arguing that in addition to raising wages, an increase in the rate could “save this commonwealth $300 million a year on entitlement programs like Medicaid.”

Following the House vote on HB 2189, Shapiro put pressure on the Senate to hold a vote on the bill. 

“We need to raise the minimum wage so Pennsylvanians have a real shot at getting ahead,” the governor said. “The House has answered the call and passed legislation to raise the minimum wage three separate times – now it’s time for the Senate to follow their lead and get this done.”

House lawmakers pass same-sex marriage bill 

House lawmakers also approved legislation this week that would repeal language in state law defining marriage as a civil contract between a man and woman. The bill, House Bill 1800, is sponsored by Democratic state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta and would change language in Title 23 to define marriage as a civil contract between two individuals.

The legislation would also repeal language that stated that same-sex marriages performed elsewhere would be void in the commonwealth. 

Kenyatta said on the House floor that HB 1800 would bring state law in alignment with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that the Fourteenth Amendment requires a state to license and recognize marriage between same-sex couples.

“Our commonwealth and our laws have not kept up with the court decision, and so as important as HB 1800 is for me, for my family, it's also a very simple bill that ensures that our laws reflect the law of this land as held in Obergefell,” Kenyatta said in a floor speech. 

GOP state Rep. Bryan Cutler voted against the bill and cited a dissenting opinion from the Obergefell decision that “warned that the result of the decision would undermine people's ability to adhere to a traditional view of marriage in the public square.” He then went on to reference a lawsuit filed against Arlene’s Flowers of Richland, Washington that was filed after the shop’s owner, Barronelle Stutzman, refused to arrange wedding flowers for a same-sex couple.

“This is not some idea that has not borne fruit,” Cutler said. “In fact, you can look no further than the florist, Baronelle Stutzman, who was pushed out of her business due to her own personal convictions on marriage.”

The bill ultimately passed with a 127-72 vote.

House passes paid family and medical leave bill

Another high-profile bill passed by House lawmakers this week was House Bill 200, legislation from Democratic state Rep. Jennifer O’Mara that would create a paid family and medical leave program in Pennsylvania.

Under the legislation, employers in the state would be required to offer paid leave benefits to eligible employees, with employers required to provide partial wage replacement for a maximum of 12 weeks to qualifying employees.

O’Mara said on the House floor that Pennsylvania lawmakers could take meaningful action on paid family and medical leave in the absence of action from Washington, D.C.

“If Washington, D.C. isn't going to get it done, then frankly, colleagues, it is our responsibility to deliver for the people of Pennsylvania,” she said. 

Tomlinson, a Republican co-sponsor of the bill, voted for the bill and said she supported the concept of paid family and medical leave, but developed concerns with the bill once the bill text was amended,  with new language that removed payroll deductions as the primary funding mechanism for the program. 

“This bill has been reconstructed and thrown together very quickly for the sake of saying we did something, and that’s unacceptable to me,” Tomlinson said on the House floor.

The bill would create a mechanism for the Department of Community and Economic Development to award grants to qualifying employers to help cover the cost of providing paid family and medical leave benefits, though no funding for the grants is included in the bill.  

The bill passed the House with a 107-92 vote and now heads to the state Senate for consideration.