Ohio Ballot Issue 2

Passage of Ballot Issue 2 would amend the Ohio Constitution to raise minimum wage to $6.85 per hour with automatic increases mandated yearly based on the inflation rate.

Recommendation:

Vote NO on Ballot Issue 2

Reasons:

(1) It's arbitrary. The proposed minimum wage increase to $6.85 could have just as easily been $6.80 or $6.90 or $7.50 or whatever. There is no business basis for the figure.

(2) The proposed amendment would tie the minimum wage to inflation via the consumer price index. This means that macro-economic bean-counters will determine the wage rate of individual employees for the future of the world. Therefore, an increase in price of rice in Louisiana theoretically impacts the wages of a worker in Toledo.

(3) The amendment would allow state investigators to nose around the records and documents of an Ohio business at will. To wit:

"The state may on its own initiative investigate an employer's compliance with this section and any law or regulation implementing its provisions."

Well, sports fans, it seems that the state of Ohio doesn't even have to have a reason for nosing around the inner workings of a business. Investigators can walk in and say, "Show us every document related to employees and wages." No warrant nor subpoena required. It's in the constitution.

(4) The amendment also contains a provision regarding interpretation:

"This section shall be liberally construed in favor of its purposes."

Since the purposes of the amendment are not specified in a "PURPOSES" paragraph, it's not really clear what they are. Consequently, the constitution will specify that ill-defined purposes are to be "liberally construed." Tell me this isn't mumbo-jumbo and free license for the state to do anything.

(5) Assuming the people in the state of Ohio buy into this lousy law, I have a question. Citizens of Ohio, where's your pride? For crying out loud, what's a measly $6.85 going to do? San Francisco jacked their minimum wage rate up to $8.50. Why isn't Ohio doing them one better? Say $30 per hour? Or maybe $40 per hour? Everyone knows it's difficult to live on low wages so why not give everybody a wage which guarantees a comfortable middle-class living?

In summary, Ballot Issue 2 should be soundly defeated. After all, if we want to encourage businesses to move out of the state, let's do it in one fell swoop. Ballot Issue 2 just nips at their heels, putting more regulation and more government intrusiveness on employers trying to eke out a profit in a competitive world. However, if anything is done to increase wages arbitrarily, the voters of Ohio should demand middle-class incomes for all citizens. Of course, there probably won't be a lot of employers left in the state.

Lastly, it's important to note that nowhere in the proposed change to the Ohio Constitution is there any mention of the productivity or worth of individual employees. So, despite a worker's value to a business, the state will mandate a pay increase. The pay increase will be passed along as additional cost to the consumer which will cause inflationary pressure which will increase the Consumer Price Index which will cause the minimum wage to increase again which will ... etc. etc. etc. Raise wages, raises prices, raises CPI, raises wages -- it's a do loop.

In conclusion, I'd like this post to be 'liberally construed' to favor my purposes.