News-Record.com

Starting Jan. 1, North Carolina’s minimum wage will be $6.15 an hour, $1 above the federal minimum. Although there was a coalition of groups and individuals who pushed for the hike, Adams was at the center of the effort in the General Assembly.

The Greensboro Democrat said that July 13, the day Gov. Mike Easley signed the wage hike into law, was the beginning of her efforts, not the end.

“I have already begun to explore some next steps,” she said at a news conference Friday.

Likely, those next steps will be twofold:

• Adding indexing to North Carolina’s minimum wage law. Under an indexed system, the wage would rise automatically with inflation.

• Pursuing an earned income tax credit for the state.

“I think if we can work on those two things…I think we will help a lot of people,” Adams said in a small art gallery on the Bennett College campus.

If past experience is any indication, the indexing joust will be a hard one. Small businesses groups fought the $1 wage hike tooth and nail and representatives seemed no happier with the prospect of a series of incremental rises.

“It would put North Carolina at an extreme disadvantage in the business sector,” said Greg Thompson, the state president of the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

Even Easley, who happily signed the $1 hike, demurred when asked if he thought indexing were a good idea, saying he would have to study the matter.

The Earned Income Tax Credit is another matter.

Conservative groups, including those who pushed against the minimum wage hike, applaud the tax credit, which basically gives a refund to lower income workers.

Backers say that it is more efficient at targeting low income workers and places the financial burden on government, not business.

“That would have been a nice thing to bring up this year,” said John Hood, president of the conservative-leaning John Locke Foundation. Hood said that he usually doesn’t favor using the tax code as a policy tool, but called the tax credit “far superior” to the minimum wage increase.

The catch for advocates like Adams is that conservatives and business-friendly groups usually offer the tax credit as a substitute for raising the minimum wage, not an add on.

“I certainly don’t think you should do both together,” Hood said.

Thompson said his group had no position on the tax credit.

That may make for some interesting legislative maneuvering next year.
And it will be next year.

The General Assembly is ready to shut down this year’s session and barring a veto by Easley or as-yet-unforeseen special session, it will remain out until next January.

So why start agitating for the next steps now?

All told it took Adams more than 10 years to push through a $1 hike. She might figure her next steps might lead down a similarly long road - one she wants to start down as soon as she can.