Nevada's Continued Efforts To Increase The Minimum Wage

In 2006, Nevada's Constitution was amended to establish a two-tier minimum wage system dependent upon whether an employer provides "health benefits" to its employees.  This amendment, Section 16 of Article 15, is often referred to as the Minimum Wage Amendment (MWA).  Under the MWA, employers may pay the lower tier (equal to the $7.25/hour federal minimum wage) if qualifying health benefits are offered but must pay the higher tier minimum wage (one dollar per hour more than the lower tier), if such benefits are not offered.  Under the MWA, increases in Nevada's minimum wage tiers are tied to the greater of the federal minimum wage or the cumulative increase in the cost of living as measured by the Consumer Price Index (All Urban Consumers, U.S. City Average) (CPI).  The MWA specifically limits any CPI adjustment to the minimum wage for any 1-year period to 3%.  There have been multiple efforts recently to increase the Nevada minimum wage.