TULSA, Okla. — For almost 15 years Oklahoma's minimum wage has remained $7.25 cents an hour.
One group said enough is enough, while another said changing it is not so simple.
"Right now, 171,000 Oklahomans work below poverty-level wages. We can gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour so that our wages can keep up with the cost of living," Raise The Wage Oklahoma spokesperson Amber England told 2 News Jan. 15.
England said with many other states already taking initiative, Oklahoma falls behind in wage growth.
In October, the group filed to start collecting signatures to qualify for a state question in the next general election. If everything goes the group's way, the Sooner state would require its minimum hourly pay go up incrementally each year until reaching $15 in 2029.
In the years after that, it would go up at the same rate as the U.S. Department of Labor's cost of living.
"(But) you end up hurting people at the lower end of the wage scale. You end up hurting businesses who would like to hire either part-time or seasonal or first-time workers," Oklahoma State Chamber of Commerce CEO Chad Warmington said.
The proposal for State Question 832 was quickly challenged in November by both the state chamber and Oklahoma Farm Bureau.
The Oklahoma State Supreme Court at the State Capitol is scheduled to hear arguments Jan. 31.
Warmington said it would violate the state constitution which has legislators setting the wage. And, he feels it may not even be necessary.
"Having it pass over the next five years and be automatically ties to CPIW at the end of five years and could be in the $20+ range pretty easily if you look at historic inflation over the last couple of years, it's just not a good bet for Oklahoma," he said.
On the other hand, England said it's precisely the legislature's fault that wages haven't grown enough, and voters deserve to decide themselves.
"It's just really common sense," England said. "When the cost of gas and groceries and housing just keeps going up, and wages have stayed the same Oklahomans understand that it's just time to raise the wage."
If the court sides with Raise The Wage Oklahoma, the group said it would have 90 days to collect 68,000-92,000 signatures to be put on a state ballot.
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