Episode 373: Really? A Republican Senator Introduces $15/hr Minimum Wage Legislation?

Say it ain’t so! A conservative Republican senator - Josh Hawley from Missouri - has teamed up with a liberal senator from Vermont to introduce legislation to increase the federal minimum wage to $15/hr. While the bill may or may not get traction, the bigger issue is the changing relationship that Republicans are forging with organized labor and working class voters. We’ll take a look. And we are joined by Kelsey Streufert with the Texas Restaurant Association to talk about their recently-adjourned session and the remarkable progress they made on streamlining local permitting and fee processes as well as pushing back against the credit card duopoly that runs our payment systems. And then we talk with Amanda Stone from the New Jersey Restaurant & Hospitality Association to discuss this week’s election resultsand what a new governor and legislative mix mean for the state and the industry. We’ll talk about those issues and wrap it up with the legislative scorecard.