In February 2016, San Marcos, a city just south of Austin, voted to establish a minimum wage of $15 for all companies seeking tax incentives within city limits. In the 85th legislative session, state lawmakers are trying to do something similar.

San Marcos Council Member Scott Gregson said he came across the idea to pass such a city ordinance by researching the cost of living in Hays County. Using the Living Wage Calculator, Gregson discovered a living wage for two working adults with two children in the area equated to roughly $14.30.

Living-wage levels

Living-wage calculations assume that a working adult puts in 2,080 working hours per year or 40 hours per week, 52 weeks in the year and uses a low-cost food plan, which assumes all meals and snacks are prepared at home.

“That means working full-time, without any kind of a car breakdown, without a child being sick,” Gregson said. “Setting the standard at $15 establishes a reasonable point to feed and house a family and provide a good education for kids, with an occasional night out.”

Since implementing this minimum-wage ruling, Epic Piping and Best Buy have both announced deals to move to San Marcos with the advantage of tax breaks, promising to be compliant with the minimum-wage ordinance.

Gregson said taxpayers subsidize the community in one way or another, whether it is for companies who pay a living wage or residents who cannot afford to live in the area and must turn to social services.

“If citizens find themselves below the living-wage threshold, they find health care in emergency rooms, food at food banks and use other social services that as citizens of the community, we pay for through either our generosity or our taxes,” he said.

Although companies applying for tax incentives through the city do have to raise their minimum wage to the $15 mark, other employers in the area do not.

Texas law prohibits cities and counties from setting their own minimum wage, so cities such as San Marcos cannot set a blanket pay rate requirement. Legislators have previously tried to change that, and this year’s session at the Capitol will be no different.

Minimum wage frozen since 2009

Since 2009, Texas’ minimum wage has been set at $7.25. In that period of time, a new governor was elected, roughly 4 million people moved to Texas and the size of the budget increased by more than $20 billion.

The state is home to the country’s largest amount of minimum-wage workers—400,000 total—about 60 percent of whom are women, according to Progress Texas, a left-leaning advocacy group.

Last session, seven bills from the House, four from the Senate and one constitutional amendment were filed to raise the minimum wage.

Each of the House bills were left pending in their respective committees. In the Senate, each bill was referred to the Natural Resources and Economic Development Committee and went no further. Three of the four pieces of Senate legislation met their end as early as late January 2015, less than a month into the five month legislative session.

Some lawmakers remain hopeful 2017 and a new session will bring life to increasing the minimum wage. Seven House Bills, two Senate bills and three constitutional amendments have been filed. Legislation generally focuses on three main approaches to increasing the minimum wage: boosting it to $15 an hour, increasing it to $10.10 an hour, or allowing cities and counties to set the rate for themselves.

Bipartisan support needed

Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, who was involved with changing the minimum wage in 2009, is hoping to build previously absent bipartisan support for her own minimum wage piece of legislation, House Bill 937.

“We think [HB 937] is a more moderate, three-step bill that is not going to be putting small businesses out of business,” Thompson’s Legislative Director Brete Anderson said. “[Thompson] has always worked well with people from both parties, and there is bipartisan concern surround this issue.”

Bipartisan support on this topic has been remarkably absent in previous sessions. The only recorded vote on this issue from 2015, House Joint Resolution 26, was defeated 92-50 along partisan lines.

Thompson’s bill steps up the minimum wage over the next five years, gradually increasing it from what it is now—$7.25—to $8.25 in 2018 and 2019, to $9.25 in 2020 and 2021 and then to $10.10 in 2022.

City and county control

Rep. Evelina Ortega, D-El Paso, is taking a more local approach to changing the minimum wage. Ortega’s bill, HB 840, would allow cities and counties to set their own pay rates.

“Most of these bills have been proposed by Democrats, but when you think that Republicans want to give more local control, which is the focus with my legislation, it actually fits with what they have been supporting,” Ortega said.

Ortega also cited a study done by The University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Politics Project that found 62 percent of Texans support increasing the minimum wage. Ortega said she thinks this shows that support is widespread across the state, making it a bipartisan issue.

“The need to raise the minimum wage is a rural and urban community need,” she said. “And it is not me dictating what it should be, but allowing local governments to decide what best serves the needs of the community.”

Gregson would not say whether San Marcos would consider passing further minimum-wage updates should a law like Ortega’s pass in the Senate. He did say the city should be updating its current regulations as the state of Texas’ economy changes year to year to keep up with the living wage of the times.

“It does need to be looked at for inflation, various instances of cost, when housing costs inflate,” he said. “We have got to be fair to ourselves and our citizens."