Since the legislature has proven reluctant to raise the Kansas minimum wage higher than $2.65 an hour, we’re asking Wichita to take action. Cities have every right to ensure that citizens with jobs stay out of dire poverty. Currently, at least 17,000 Kansas workers are paid less than the national minimum wage.

Raise the Wage, Wichita says: The buck stops here.

Wichita can, and should, pass local legislation to ensure that no one employed in Wichita is paid less than the national minimum wage.

Why not focus on the legislature instead?

(1) For many years, the Kansas legislature has consistently resisted matching the federal minimum wage, let alone exceeding it. That’s why Kansas is the only state with a wage floor specifically set to fall below the federal level ($2.65 an hour in Kansas versus $5.85 nationally). And that’s why legislators introduced SB 71 on Jan. 11, 2007, to eliminate the minimum wage altogether, leaving Kansas with as little protection for low-income workers as Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, South Carolina, and Georgia — all states which have no minimum wage floor at all.

Thankfully, this toxic bill did not pass. But the legislature also rejected a bill to raise the wage — as it has done several times previously, and as it did again in the 2008 legislative session.

(2) Statewide ballot initiatives are precluded by law in Kansas. So, unlike our neighbors to the east and west (Missouri and Colorado), we’re unable to raise the minimum wage through a statewide vote by the people.

Given these obstacles, we are pursuing a fresh approach – a set of coordinated city-level campaigns in strategically chosen Kansas cities (Wichita, Topeka and Kansas City, Kansas). The aim is to “raise the wage” city by city. We encourage you to join us.* To read more on the legality of citywide minimum wage law, see “Citywide Minimum Wage Laws: A New Policy Tool for Local Governments,” found here.