A Living Wage? What Will They Think Of Next?

Here's some interesting news: "On May 8, 2007, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley became the first governor in the United States to sign living-wage legislation. The law requires state contractors in Maryland to pay at least $8.50 an hour to workers in most of Maryland, while contractors in the more expensive Baltimore-Washington area must pay $11.30 an hour."

Hopefully this is the start of a trend, and not an isolated incident of political conscientiousness.

Meanwhile, on the federal level, Congress still hasn't finalized the minimum wage increase bill (going from $5.15/hr to $7.25/hr) the House first passed in early January... thanks to consistent Republican meddling, natch. At this rate, it should be reach the President's desk sometime before his term ends, at which point I hope he remembers he's not supposed to veto this bill.

This'll likely have to be solved state-to-state, but I fear Gov. O'Malleys are hard to come by.