D.C. Council Officially Approves Minimum Wage  View Comments (
The D.C. Council did its part in creating a "regional minimum
wage" by passing a bill to raise the city's minimum wage to
$11.50 per hour by 2016.      The D.C. Council approved the
city's minimum wage increase in a final vote Tuesday, with
hourly pay set to rise to $11.50 by 2016.      With the council
already having approved the minimum wage hike unanimously,
Tuesday's vote was considered little more than a formality.
Under the bill, the District's minimum wage will rise to $9.50
next summer; $10.50 in 2015, and $11.50 in 2016.      The bill
will go to Democratic Mayor Vincent Gray for his signature. Gray
has advocated for an immediate minimum wage hike to $10 an hour,
but wants to study the prospect of further increases.      The
council and the mayor clashed earlier this year over raising
wages for workers at Walmart and other major retailers (those
with stores of at least 75,000 square feet, and whose parent
companies have sales of