Gov. Tom Wolf makes another attempt to increase the minimum wage as he pushes for a “living wage” starting this July.

Wolf wants to raise Pennsylvania’s $7.25 hourly minimum wage to $12 per hour beginning this summer. He then plans to raise the rate from $12 by 50 cents at a time every year through 2025, reaching $15 per hour by 2025. Wolf proposes the minimum wage should be determined by inflation after the planned increases stop in 2025.

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Gov. Wolf will include his minimum wage proposal in his 2019-2020 overall budget proposal, he will be introducing this proposal next week.

In his first term, Gov. Wolf made a similar attempt to convince lawmakers to raise the minimum wage and was unsuccessful in doing so. His new plan has already been met with resistance from some business groups. In his new minimum wage proposal, Wolf will be attempting to persuade the General Assembly to get rid of the separate minimum wage for tipped workers. The wage for tipped workers has been set at $2.83 per hour for the last 21 years.

“Pennsylvania has to be a place where hard work is rewarded,” Wolf said at a Capitol news conference. “But today too many people are working harder and harder and they still can’t afford basics like food, transportation and shelter. Despite working full-time, too many people need the help of public benefit programs to get by.”

At the Capitol news conference wolf surrounded himself with many Democratic lawmakers and workers earning less than the proposed $12 per hour. The governor was also accompanied by Lt. Gov. John Fetterman. Wolf expects his proposal to gain bipartisan support despite the absence of Republican Lawmakers at the conference.

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