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Minimum wage issue in Florida on verge of hitting threshold

FILE- In this Wednesday, June 20, 2018, file photo, Jason Joshua waits on customers at Zak the Baker in Miami. Americans who quit to take new jobs are enjoying pay raises that are one-third larger than raises for workers who stay put, a gap that has reached the widest point since the Great Recession. At the same time, retail and restaurant workers are receiving more generous raises than manufacturing workers are. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky, File)

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment that would gradually increase Florida’s minimum wage to $15 an hour are on the verge of submitting enough petition signatures to get on the November 2020 ballot.

The political committee Florida For A Fair Wage had submitted 763,330 valid petition signatures to the state as of mid-day Monday, just under the 766,200-signature threshold to reach the ballot, according to the Florida Division of Elections website.

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Political committees face a February deadline for submitting signatures.

Florida For A Fair Wage, led by prominent Orlando attorney John Morgan, also needs the state Supreme Court to sign off on its proposed ballot wording before the minimum-wage increase could go before voters.

The proposed amendment would increase the state’s minimum wage to $10 an hour on Sept. 30, 2021 and increase it by $1 each year until it hits $15 an hour on Sept. 30, 2026.

The state’s minimum wage this year is $8.46 an hour.

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