The first test of how far Democrats will be able to push their agenda may come as early as Tuesday when the Labor and Public Employees Committee votes on two bills that would phase in an increase to the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
The joint committee is expected to vote on whether to forward both a Senate and House bill to the floor of their respective chambers.
At the moment, membership on the committee is split two-two on the Senate side and on the House side there are five Democratic members and four Republican members. That means it’s possible the House bill could pass and the Senate bill could fail on a tie vote.
However, even if the House bill passes it’s almost impossible to get it to the Senate since it didn’t pass a vote of the Senate membership of the committee. In order to take up a similar measure in the Senate it would require emergency certification.
Stay tuned Tuesday to find out what happens.
