Ohio Democrats propose bill to increase minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2030

By Megan Henry
Ohio Capital Journal

Ohio Democrat lawmakers are once again trying to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 per hour. 

State Reps. Dontavius Jarrells, D-Columbus, and Ismail Mohamed, D-Columbus, recently introduced House Bill 34, which would increase the minimum wage by a dollar per hour each year for workers until reaching $15 per hour in 2030. The bill is in the Ohio House Labor and Commerce Committee. 

Ohio’s minimum wage went up to $10.70 per hour for non-tipped employees on Jan. 1. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. 

“At $10.45 per hour, Ohio’s minimum wage is not enough for working families to stay afloat,” Jarrells said in a statement. “No one should have to work multiple jobs just to survive. Raising wages means strengthening families, stabilizing communities, and growing our economy.”

Under H.B. 34, the state’s minimum wage would increase to $11 per hour on Jan. 1, 2026, $12 per hour in 2027, $13 per hour in 2028, $14 per hour in 2029 and $15 per hour in 2030. The bill also raises the tipped minimum wage by $0.50 per year for five years. 

The director of Commerce would then adjust the state’s wage on Sept. 30 of every year, starting in 2030, and the new wage would take effect on Jan. 1, according to the bill. 

Ohioans passed a constitutional amendment in 2006 that has increased the state minimum wage every year based on the consumer price index. 

One Fair Wage, a national organization, tried unsuccessfully to get minimum wage on the Ohio ballot last fall. The organization failed to submit the necessary signatures to the Ohio Secretary of State to get their initiative on the ballot, which would have increased minimum wage up to $15 per hour in 2026. 

Increasing Ohio’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2026 would have aided nearly 1 million Ohioans — about a fifth of Ohio’s workforce, according to Policy Matters Ohio. 

Upping Ohio’s minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2025 would have saved 4,000 lives and created a $25 billion benefit to the state economy by 2036, according to the Scioto Analysis. 

One Fair Wage said they plan on trying to get on Ohio’s ballot again, but “can’t disclose more at this point,” the organization said in an email. 

One Fair Wage encountered lots of opposition from the Ohio Restaurant & Hospitality Alliance who said restaurant operators would have to raise their menu prices by about 20-30% if the minimum wage jumped to $15 per hour. 

There were a couple of bills related to increasing Ohio’s minimum wage during the last General Assembly, but neither of them made it out of committee. 

Two democrat state senators — Kent Smith and Hearcel Craig — introduced a bill that would have gradually raised the state’s minimum wage one dollar each year until it was up to $15 an hour in 2027. 

In an effort to stop the constitutional amendment, Republican state Sen. Bill Blessing put forth a bill that would have increased the wage to $15 by 2028.

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