Act of Alabama 2016-18

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Act of Alabama 2016-18, the Alabama Uniform Minimum Wage and Right-to-Work Act, is a state law, passed during the 2016 Alabama legislative session, by which the Alabama State Legislature asserts that it "occupies and preempts the entire field of regulation in this state touching in any way upon collective bargaining under federal labor laws or the wages, leave, or other employment benefits provided by an employer to an employee, class of employees, or independent contractor to the complete exclusion of any policy, ordinance, rule, or other mandate promulgated or enforced by any county, municipality, or other political subdivision of this state."

The bill was brought in response to Birmingham's minimum wage ordinance, which had passed on July 18, 2015 and was set to begin taking effect on July 1, 2016. The measure was the first such local wage ordinance passed in the Southeastern United States. U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor Chris Lu visited Birmingham on February 4, 2016 to express the Obama administration's support for measures like Birmingham's.

As submitted by Representative David Faulker (R-Mountain Brook), the bill would nullify any pre-existing laws and flatly establish that no county or municipality could set a minimum wage, minimum leave time, minimum benefits, or any other policy regulating the relationship between workers and their employers.

The newly-chartered Raise Up Alabama, made up of members of Alabama Fight for $15, Greater Birmingham Ministries, Moral Movement Alabama, Engage Alabama; the National Employment Law Project; United Steelworkers District 9; RWDSU Mid-South Council; the Alabama AFL-CIO; and others, organized demonstrations at Mountain Brook Village in Faulkner's legislative district on February 16.

Faulkner defended the bill as intended solely to preserve a universal statewide minimum wage, to prevent a circumstance where businesses faced a confusing array of changing local minimum wages.

Despite the organized opposition, the bill passed the Alabama House of Representatives by a party-line 71-31 vote (with one abstention) that same day. An amendment proposed by Democratic representative Darrio Melton of Selma, to establish a statewide $10.10 minimum wage, was defeated by a 71-30 vote.

The bill was introduced into the State Senate by Republican Jabo Waggoner of Vestavia Hills. The Senate passed the measure on a 23-11 vote on February 25, sending it to Governor Robert Bentley, who signed it into law on February 26.

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