Check out the week as tweeted from lawmakers, influencers, and others around Pennsylvania state government.

Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration withdrew controversial overtime regulations from a meeting of the Independent Regulatory Review Commission Thursday, banking on the House moving a plan to raise the minimum wage--pausing the overtime changes in the process.

But the proposal, which passed the Senate on a 42-7 vote Wednesday night, has been met with a frosty reception in the House, both from conservatives skeptical of any increase and Democrats who are frustrated that the governor backed off his push for a $15 minimum wage.

Pennsylvania is one step closer to a higher minimum wage after lawmakers in the state Senate voted Wednesday night to increase the rate to $9.50 an hour.

 

But as the legislation advances toward the House, progressive lawmakers in the General Assembly say the move still doesn’t go far enough and pledged to fight for more improvements.

After weeks of speculation, a Senate committee advanced a proposal Monday to increase the state’s minimum wage, potentially setting up another showdown between Gov. Tom Wolf and the members of his own party over whether to compromise on one of their key legislative priorities.

Despite Wolf’s hopes of a $15 an hour minimum wage, the Senate Labor and Industry Committee signed off on a more modest proposal: a minimum wage which rises to $9.50 an hour in 2022. In exchange, Wolf’s office will put on hold a controversial expansion to the state’s overtime law, agreeing to keep it in line with federal regulations until 2023.

The state’s Independent Fiscal Office has released new estimates on how Pennsylvania workers would be affected by an increase in the minimum wage, which suggests that close to 2 million workers could see increases in their pay if the state’s base wage is raised to $12 an hour.

 

However, the IFO says the policy wouldn’t come without some consequences — namely, a potential loss of approximately 34,100 jobs.