A vote to raise Colorado’s minimum wage appears to be a certainty for the November ballot, as proponents said Thursday afternoon they expect to deliver 200,000 petition signatures to the secretary of state’s office Monday.
Initiative 101 would raise the Colorado minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020. The current state minimum wage is $8.31. The federal minimum wage is $7.25.
“We’re so excited to have this much support,” said Lizeth Chacon, co-chairwoman of Colorado Families for a Fair Wage. “It’s indicative of the need and the excitment that’s out there to get this on the ballot.”
The campaign needs 98,492 signatures from registered Colorado voters to qualify for a statewide vote. Some signatures on ballot initiatives typically are rejected because of duplications, the signer not being a registered Colorado voter or other reasons. But with more than twice the needed number, it would be surprising for the issue to fail because of too few signatures.
The group still has until Aug. 8 to submit petitions.
Bills to raise the minimum wage have died in the legislature, and the campaign for November will be opposed by well-financed business interests that have opposed it in the statehouse.
Chacon said Colorado Families for a Fair Wage will raise money from the 35 organizations that make up its coalition but also from an army of volunteers going to door to door, much the same way as they collected signatures.
“We can’t afford to live in our communities anymore,” she said of the high cost of living in the state.
The ballot measure is opposed by a group called Keep Colorado Working, which points out Colorado’s minimum wage has risen from $5.15 to $8.31 since 2006.
“Colorado’s minimum wage has gone up 61 percent in the last 10 years and continues to rise every year,” said Tyler Sandberg, the opposition group’s campaign manager. “But raising it by another 44 percent simply goes too far. It will hurt small businesses, especially in rural and poorer communities. Big corporations in Denver might be able to afford it, but family-owned restaurants and small retail stores in rural Colorado most definitely cannot.”
