Update: Wyoming House Votes Against MInimum Wage Bill

UPDATE: The Wyoming House has voted against a minimum wage bill that would have brought the state minimum up to the federal level of $7.25 an hour. House Bill 140 would have originally raised the state minimum wage to $9.50 an hour, but in committee that was scaled back to $7.25 an hour. But house members rejected the amended version for the bill on Tuesday by a 40-20 margin. That means the state minimum wage remains at the current $5.15 per hour. But most workers in Wyoming are covered by the federal wage guideline, so only a few employees are restricted to making $5.15 per hour.

A bill that would bring Wyoming's minimum wage into line with the federal minimum is slated for first reading in the Wyoming House today.

HB 140, sponsored by Rep. James Byrd (D-Cheyenne) originally called for increasing the Wyoming minimum wage to $9.50 per hour. But that was scaled back in committee to match the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour.

Wyoming currently has a state minimum wage of $5.15 per hour. If the bill becomes law it would impact only a small number of employees, since most people working in Wyoming are already entitled to the federal minimum.

Byrd's original bill also called for a minimum wage for tipped employees of $5.15 an hour, but that provision was removed from the bill in committee.