REPRESENTATIVE Tina Sablan will introduce House Bill 22-98 to gradually increase the CNMI minimum wage to $10 an hour from $7.25 an hour.
The bill is co-sponsored by Speaker Edmund S. Villagomez, Reps. Celina Babauta, Richard Lizama, Leila Staffler and Denita Yangetmai.
Citing that “half of the states have seen minimum wage increases from 2021 to 2022, and 11 states plus the District of Columbia have legislation placing them on track to reach a minimum wage of $15 per hour,” H.B. 22-98 proposes a gradual minimum wage increase by 55 cents in four years.
Beginning on the 120th day after its enactment, the measure proposes an increase to $7.80 per hour from the current $7.25 an hour.
It would increase again to $8.35 per hour beginning 12 months after that 120th day; then to $8.90 per hour beginning 24 months after that 120th day; to $9.45 per hour beginning 36 months after that 120th day; and to $10 per hour beginning 48 months after the 120th day.
The bill cites the 2021 CNMI Prevailing Wage Study, which says the Commonwealth’s median hourly wage was $9.97. According to the bill, this means that half of the CNMI’s workforce were already making $9.97 per hour or more, and the overall mean hourly wage in the Commonwealth was $13.53.
“Gradually increasing the CNMI minimum wage to $10 per hour in four years is both reasonable and attainable,” the bill states.
H.B. 22-98 also seeks to repeal or amend “certain obsolete or problematic” sections of the Minimum Wage and Hour Act to, among other things, “improve the protections for workers” in the CNMI.
Tina Sablan
