Workers in Pennsylvania could get a $4.75 an hour raise on Jan. 1 and another $1.50 an hour raise six months later under legislation introduced recently in the state Legislature.

Rep. Roni Green, D-Philadelphia, recently introduced House Bill 2721 in the state Assembly to increase the minimum wage for hourly employees and tipped workers from its current $7.25. Co-sponsors are all Democrats: Rep. Dan Williams, D-Chester; Rep. Mary Jo Daley, D-Mongtomery; Rep. John Galloway, D-Bucks; Rep. Rosita Youngblood, D-Philadelphia; Rep. Morgan Cephas, D-Philadelphia; Rep. Peter Schweyer, D-Lehigh; Rep. Carol Hill-Evans, D-York; Rep. Joseph Hohenstein, D-Philadelphia; Rep. Stephen Kinsey, D-Philadelphia; Rep. Summer Lee, D-Allegheny; Rep. Joanna McClinton, D-Philadelphia; Rep. Maria Donatucci, D-Philadelphia/Delaware; Rep. Maurren Madden, D-Monroe; Rep. William Kortz, D-Allegheny; Rep. Isabella Fitzgerald, D-Philadelphia; Rep. Melissa Shusterman, D-Chester/Montgomery; and Rep. Harry Readshaw, D-Allegheny.

Green’s bill would raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour on Jan. 1, 2021, $13.50 an hour on July 1, 2021, and $15 an hour on Jan. 1, 2022. Tipped worker wages would go up to $5 an hour on Jan. 1, 2021, $6.50 an hour on July 1, 2021, and $8 an hour on Jan. 1, 2022.

“You cannot raise a family on $7.25 per hour,” Green wrote in her legislative memorandum. “Even single people cannot feed themselves, pay rent, pay utilities, and save for the future on $7.25 per hour. As we recover from COVID-19, we need to ensure that workers are getting a fair wage and have the ability to prepare for disasters like the pandemic. Workers cannot prepare on $7.25 per hour.”

Pennsylvania’s minimum wage matches the federal minimum wage currently. There are 29 states with minimum wages higher than Pennsylvania, 12 other states with the same $7.25 minimum wage as Pennsylvania’s and six states with no minimum wage whatsoever. In neighboring New York, the state Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo implemented a three-year phased minimum wage increase that was tied to different levels depending on the region of the state in which urban areas have a higher minimum wage than do rural areas.

Green’s timetable is a much faster rise to a $15 an hour minimum wage than the one that has been proposed by Gov. Tom Wolf, who in 2019 proposed raising the legal minimum wage to $12 per hour on July 1, 2019, and then an additional 50 cents per year until the minimum wage reaches $15 per hour in 2025. And, if Pennsylvania’s legislators take up the bill, they will do so at a time when businesses throughout the state are dealing with the state’s COVID-19 restrictions.

On Friday, Wolf issued a news release commemorating the 11th anniversary of the state’s last minimum wage increase on July 24, 2009, when the state’s minimum wage increased due to federal changes.

“Today is a sad reminder that across the state many workers are on the job and earning poverty wages because Pennsylvania hasn’t raised the minimum wage in over a decade,” Wolf said. “Many of them are essential workers, who throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have gone to work and put themselves at risk to provide the services all of us rely on. While those hardworking people lag behind, 29 other states – including all of our neighbors – have raised the wage for their workers. It’s ridiculous that a Pennsylvanian earns less for the same job than someone in West Virginia, Ohio or New York. Pennsylvanians are known for our tremendous work ethic, but too many of them, especially our essential workers, can’t afford their basic needs. That must be unacceptable to all of us.”