Judge Halts DC Ballot Measure on Minimum Wage

[eridani]

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/34960-judge-halts-dc-ballot-measure-on-minimum-wage

D.C. judge on Friday halted an effort to let voters decide whether the city’s minimum wage should be increased to $15 per hour, attorneys said.D.C. Superior Court Judge Maurice A. Ross ruled that the problem wasn’t the measure itself but the body that agreed to let it proceed toward the ballot: Every member of the D.C. Board of Elections was serving past their appointed terms last year when they considered the issue. That, the judge found, invalidated their decision.

Business groups that oppose a wage hike and have warned it would put the District at a competitive disadvantage regionally applauded the judge’s ruling. After several previous attempts to derail the effort failed, attorneys for former D.C. Chamber of Commerce president Harry Wingo on Friday won essentially by arguing that the D.C. elections board wasn’t empowered to make any legal decisions.

For that, the judge’s ruling may have implications beyond the minimum-wage issue, even threatening a wave of follow-up lawsuits over the validity of other elections over the past four years. That’s because the elections board has been operating with at least two of its three members serving on expired terms since 2012.

[B Calm]

1. Who is he to judge what working people earn per hour?

[harrose]

3. Did you read the OP?

The judge didn't make any such judgement. He basically threw the measure out on a technicality. All the District has to do is just redo it the correct way.

[Orrex]

4. Better to review & correct it now

Instead of getting it passed and then thrown out for the same reason.

[harrose]

5. On that...

... I agree.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

2. Why was the election council not replaced at the required time?