Arizona voters will decide in November on Proposition 206, which would eventually raise the state’s minimum wage to $12 per hour. Democratic Congresswoman and U.S. Senate candidate Ann Kirkpatrick has officially endorsed the initiative. Arizona Public Radio’s Ryan Heinsius reports.
Kirkpatrick says increasing the state’s minimum wage would boost economic opportunity for working-class Arizonans. Prop 206, or the Arizonans for Fair Wages and Healthy Families Initiative, would raise the wage from the current $8.05 an hour to $10 an hour at the beginning of next year. It would then gradually increase to $12 an hour by 2020.
Kirkpatrick’s Republican opponent in the Senate race, John McCain, hasn’t commented specifically about Prop 206. But historically he’s opposed federal minimum wage increases, instead advocating for tax reform and lower rates on individuals and corporations.
A recent Arizona Republic/Morrison/Cronkite poll showed more than 60 percent of Arizonans support Prop 206.
