The Republican-controlled Senate Thursday yet again killed a bill along party lines to create a state minimum wage in New Hampshire.
Currently the state adheres to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. The bill sought to boost the minimum wage to $12 an hour by September 2018.
Opponents argued this increase would hurt small businesses and lead to a loss of low-wage jobs.
Democratic Senator Donna Soucy of Manchester was the bill’s main sponsor.
“Somebody working for $7.25 an hour is making just over $15,000 a year," Soucy told her colleagues on the Senate floor. "I don’t care what district you live you but a person and a person trying to support a family cannot exist on $15,000 per year.”
Nineteen states including Maine began the year with higher minimum wages.
