The Senate Finance committee will hold a hearing Tuesday on a bill that aims to boost New Hampshire’s minimum wage.
New Hampshire currently defaults to the federal rate of $7.25 an hour, after lawmakers repealed the state’s minimum wage law in 2011.
The bill going before the Senate committee this week would raise that to $8.25 an hour next year, and again to $9 an hour in 2016.
Future increases would then to be tied to the cost of living.
The Democratically-controlled House passed the bill last month and Governor Maggie Hassan has expressed support for boosting the minimum wage.
But if history is any indication, the bill’s chances of making it through the Republican-led Senate are slim.
Senate lawmakers rejected a measure last year that would have restored the state’s minimum wage law.
The state’s Business and Industry Association opposes an increase.
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