[media-credit name=’DEREK MONTGOMERY/Herald photo’ align=’alignright’ width=’336′][/media-credit]Representatives gathered at the Capitol Monday to discuss preempting local minimum wage ordinances.

State Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, proposed the bill in response to increasing demand for a leveling of wages in Wisconsin.

“The state’s business climate can’t afford to comply with the social engineering that seems to run rampant in a few localities,” Nass said.

The long-term effects of local minimum wage ordinances will result in unnecessary and economically unhealthy competition between communities, according to Nass.

“[Uniform minimum wage] certainly would create a more level playing field,” Nass said.

Small business may choose to relocate in neighboring communities and consumers may travel to receive better paying jobs and lower prices. This would increase urban sprawl and the need for road improvement, Nass said.

“To deal with this right now is needed because there is a very small legislative window of time,” Nass said.

It is difficult to cite examples of other labor issues that are not mandated at the state level, Rep. Daniel Vrakas, R-Hartland, points out. Adult and child labor laws, issues about family and medical leave and equal rights and discrimination laws are all addressed at the state level, according to Vrakas.

Much debate garnered around the inability to separate the proposed increase of the state minimum wage raise and uniform minimum wage throughout the state.

“The bill today [is formatted] to stop cities from doing what they have to do to compensate,” Rep. Mike Sheridan, R-Janesville, said.

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed a similar bill last session.

The current minimum wage in Wisconsin follows the federal guideline of $5.15 an hour and has not increased in seven years. The minimum wage advisory council proposed an increase to $6.50 an hour, according to Doyle’s veto message in March.

Nearly two-thirds of the more than 100,000 people benefiting from the wage increase after the first year would be women, Gov. Doyle’s veto message said.

“I don’t know why it’s up to the Big Brother of the state to slap [the municipalities’] hands,” Rep. Christine Sinicki, D-Milwaukee, said.

Though Doyle supports a statewide minimum wage, he said it is easily understood why localities believe they need to raise the minimum wage because it is $5.15 an hour.

“[The] local people really have a better idea of what is good for their municipalities,” Rep. Terry Van Akkeren, D-Sheboygan, said. “If we continue to ignore the words of [the] people, our citizens are going to act and [this is what] we are seeing all over the state,” Sheridan said.

Chair of the board of the Wisconsin Restaurant Association Steve Davis and Ed Lump, president and CEO of Wisconsin Restaurant Association and Minimum Wage Advisory Council member, provided the perspective of business owners and workers in the state.

“[The] purpose of a state minimum wage would be to set a reasonable floor for entry,” Davis said.

If the wage rate is too high, businesses must eliminate jobs and raise prices, which hurts profitability, Davis said.

“Raising [the] minimum wage when the economy is going in the other direction can have a considerably negative impact,” Lump said.

Madison was the first municipality in the state to increase the minimum wage, followed by Milwaukee and La Crosse adopting their own minimum wage increase policy.