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132nd MAINE LEGISLATURE
FIRST REGULAR SESSION-2025
Legislative Document No. 853
H.P. 539 House of Representatives, March 4, 2025
An Act to Replace the Minimum Hourly Wage with a Regionally
Based Living Wage
Reference to the Committee on Labor suggested and ordered printed.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative GEIGER of Rockland.
Cosponsored by Representatives: BECK of South Portland, MACIAS of Topsham, ROEDER
of Bangor, WARREN of Scarborough, Senator: TIPPING of Penobscot.
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1Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
2Sec. 1. 26 MRSA §663, sub-§16 is enacted to read:
316. Coastal region. "Coastal region" means the counties of Hancock, Waldo, Knox,
4 Lincoln, Sagadahoc, Kennebec and Oxford.
5Sec. 2. 26 MRSA §663, sub-§17 is enacted to read:
617. Northern region. "Northern region" means the counties of Aroostook,
7 Piscataquis, Penobscot, Somerset, Franklin, Washington and Androscoggin.
8Sec. 3. 26 MRSA §663, sub-§18 is enacted to read:
918. Portland metropolitan region. "Portland metropolitan region" means the
10 counties of York and Cumberland.
11Sec. 4. 26 MRSA §664, sub-§1, as amended by IB 2015, c. 2, §1, is further
12 amended to read:
131. Minimum wage. The minimum hourly wage is $7.50 $14.65 per hour in the coastal
14 region, northern region and Portland metropolitan region until December 31, 2025.
15 Beginning January 1, 2026, the minimum hourly wage in the coastal region is the living
16 wage determined by the institute for the State as a whole, for one adult with no children, as
17 of January 1, 2025. Beginning January 1, 2026, the minimum hourly wage in the northern
18 region is the living wage determined by the institute for the Bangor metropolitan area, for
19 one adult with no children, as of January 1, 2025. Beginning January 1, 2026, the minimum
20 hourly wage in the Portland metropolitan region is the living wage determined by the
21 institute for the Portland-South Portland metropolitan area, for one adult with no children,
22 as of January 1, 2025. Starting January 1, 2017, the minimum hourly wage is $9.00 per
23 hour; starting January 1, 2018, the minimum hourly wage is $10.00 per hour; starting
24 January 1, 2019, the minimum hourly wage is $11.00 per hour; and starting January 1,
25 2020, the minimum hourly wage is $12.00 per hour. On January 1, 2021 2027 and each
26 January 1st thereafter, the minimum hourly wage then in effect must be increased by the
27 increase, if any, in the cost of living. The increase in the cost of living must be measured
28 by the percentage increase, if any, as of August of the previous year over the level as of
29 August of the year preceding that year in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage
30 Earners and Clerical Workers, CPI-W, for the Northeast Region, or its successor index, as
31 published by the United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics or its
32 successor agency, with the amount of the minimum wage increase rounded to the nearest
33 multiple of 5¢. If the highest federal minimum wage is increased in excess of the minimum
34 wage in effect under this section, the minimum wage under this section is increased to the
35 same amount, effective on the same date as the increase in the federal minimum wage, and
36 must be increased in accordance with this section thereafter.
37 For the purposes of this subsection, "institute" means the Massachusetts Institute of
38 Technology or a successor organization that publishes living wage data for the State.
39SUMMARY
40 This bill replaces the minimum wage for the State with a regional living wage
41 beginning January 1, 2026, according to data provided by the Massachusetts Institute of
42 Technology, Living Wage Calculator, or its successor organization. The bill divides the
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43 State into regions based on counties for the purposes of a regional living wage. The bill
44 provides that, until December 31, 2025, the minimum hourly wage is $14.65, which is the
45 minimum hourly wage as of January 1, 2025.
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