BATON ROUGE — A 4-2 committee vote Wednesday sent to the full Senate a bill that would establish an $8-per-hour state minimum wage.

Senate Bill 153, by Sen. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans, would make the increase effective on Jan. 1, 2018. The wage would increase to $8.50 on Jan. 1, 2019.

Louisiana now observes the $7.25 federal minimum wage.

The committee also approved Carter’s S.B. 155, which would prohibit discrimination based on sex, gender and age.

The odds of getting both bills approved by the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee were good because there are four Democrats, who support higher minimum wages, and three Republicans on the panel.

Sens. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge; Wesley Bishop, D-New Orleans; J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans, and Carter voted for the wage bill. Sens. Ronnie Johns, R-Sulphur, and Barrow Peacock, R-Bossier City, were opposed. Sen. Neil Riser, R-Columbia and chairman, didn’t vote.

Getting Carter’s bills through the House will be more difficult. Its Labor and Industrial Relations Committee has rejected similar bills in the past. The House committee has 11 Republicans and six Democrats.

Carter said the federal wage was last raised in 2009 and that the cost-of-living has gone up 35 percent since then. He said people are struggling to survive in Louisiana while 29 other states have wages higher than the federal minimum.

“It’s hard to live on $7.25 per hour,” he said. “Louisiana is behind the curve. Let’s send a message to the rest of the world and the people of Louisiana.”

Isabelle Sledge, a business owner from Lafayette, supports the increase. She said some corporations are being subsidized because their employees end up in state-funded medical clinics for health care.

Peacock took issue with Sledge when she mentioned Wal-Mart as one of those corporations. He said the company has been generous with the North Louisiana Food Bank, is a good corporate citizen that pays taxes, and increases employment opportunities.

Morrell defended Sledge, saying Wal-Mart raised its hourly pay to $9 because it was $11 elsewhere. He also talked about Wal-Mart abusing the state’s Enterprise Zone program, which is for hard-pressed areas.

Mary Ellen Slater, a Baton Rouge business owner, said she paid an intern $10 per hour when she wasn’t being paid anything elsewhere. She said the employee was able to focus on her work and that $10 has become her company’s minimum wage.

Bishop said the minimum wage debate is something he “really gets frustrated about.” He talked about a McDonald’s employee he knows who has to hold two full-time jobs to support his family with three children.

Dawn Starns, state director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, spoke in opposition. She said the dollar figure isn’t a concern. A state minimum wage would face annual changes, she said. Taxes are going up, along with the cost of doing business, she said.

Jim Patterson of the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry said $7.25 per hour is a training wage. He said a better idea is to find ways to get these workers into higher-paying jobs. A higher minimum wage affects the cost of goods and services, he said.

Louisiana is in line with other states on the minimum wage, Patterson said.

Carter said during his closing, “When is a good time to raise the minimum wage?”Money(MGN Online)