State Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, is pictured during a Senate Appropriations Committee budget hearing Thursday.

Perhaps there will be a minimum wage increase in Pennsylvania after all.

State Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, is preparing to introduce legislation to increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10 per hour.

“I have heard from my constituents and have listened to both sides of the political aisle. It is definitely time that we address the issue and I believe my bill is the most responsible way to approach it,”Laughlin said. “My legislation increases Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $10 and – based on inflation – would provide for regular increases as appropriate.”

Laughlin’s bill would also increase the tipped wage to 50% of the minimum wage, raising it from $2.83 to $5 per hour.

“Until 1996, increases in the tipped wage corresponded with increases in the minimum wage,” Senator Laughlin said. “Since that time, Pennsylvania’s tipped wage has remained $2.83 per hour. Today, the value of the tipped wage has depreciated to 39% of the minimum wage. My bill would make it more equitable.”

Sen. Christine Tartaglione, D-Philadelphia, and Rep. Patty Kim, D-Dauphin, have introduced legislation that would increase the minimum wage to $12 an hour starting July 1; $12.50 an hour starting July 1, 2022; $13 an hour starting July 1, 2023; $13.50 on July 1, 2024; $14 an hour starting July 1, 2025; and finally reaching $15 an hour starting July 1, 2027. After then, the rate would be adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index. The legislation is co-sponsored by several Democrats. It has been referred to the Senate’s Labor and Industry Committee.

“Vital members of our community, such as child care and home health workers, bank tellers, construction workers, and retail and hospitality workers, who work full-time while making the minimum wage only earn $15,080 a year,” Tartaglione wrote. “These are some of the most fundamental jobs in our Commonwealth, yet because they earn our current minimum wage, they cannot afford basic necessities such as rent, transportation, food and prescriptions. Many are forced to rely on public assistance to get by. The inability of hard-working people to care for their basic needs, or those of their families, is morally wrong and economically unsound.”

In addition, Tartaglione’s legislation would eliminate the sub-minimum wage for tip-earners (which is currently set at $2.83 per hour).

Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday called for an increase in the state’s minimum wage with an increase to $12 on July 1 and 50 cent an hour increases each year up to $15 in 2027. Wolf said that the current minimum wage has 17 percent less purchasing power than it did when it was instituted in 2009.

“Pennsylvania workers are being left behind,” he said. “All of us are suffering for it.”