TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday certified the constitutionality of a 2020 ballot amendment that would raise Florida's minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2026.
Because supporters have already gathered enough valid voter signatures to qualify the measure for the ballot, it will appear before voters as Amendment 2.
Here's five questions asked and answered about the origin of the amendment, arguments for and against it, and its possible future:
1. What is the amendment's genesis?
The proposal is being sponsored by Florida For a Fair Wage, a political committee associated with Orlando power lawyer John Morgan.
Morgan has personally contributed the majority of the committee's funds, citing a higher minimum wage as "an issue of morals and ethics and religion."
2. What exactly would the amendment do?
If passed, the amendment would raise Florida's minimum wage to $10 an hour beginning September 30, 2021, and increase it by a dollar a year until it reaches $15 an hour in 2026.
Future increases would then be adjusted annually for inflation.
3. What do supporters say?
Morgan says Florida's current minimum wage of $8.46 is perpetuating poverty and underemployment. As he told Tallahassee's Capital Tiger Bay Club last summer, "People are staying home and not going to work because they can get more money by staying on the government dole. That’s ass-backwards."
4. What about opponents?
Critics, including Gov. Ron DeSantis, House Speaker Jose Oliva and a plethora of business leaders, warn passage of the amendment could force mass layoffs at companies that aren't able to afford to pay employees a higher minimum wage.
They also predict companies that do stay afloat would be forced to raise prices in order to afford the higher cost of doing business.
5. What happens next?
Now that Amendment 2 is certain to appear on next November's ballot, both sides are gearing up for a multi-million dollar battle that will be waged largely over the air and online.
Thursday afternoon, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, a group that opposes the higher minimum wage, said in a statement that the amendment "is a turn-out weapon to impact the presidential election masquerading as a proposed constitutional amendment."