The Senate Commerce and Labor Committee approved a version of Assembly Bill 87 to raise the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $6.40 an hour beginning Oct. 2006.

The Assembly previously approved another version of the legislation that would raise the minimum wage to $6.15 an hour but included a yearly raise of the minimum wage based on the Consumer Price Index, with a cap of 3 percent. Now that the bill has made it out of the committee it would need to be approved by the Senate and because of the differences in the versions the two pieces of legislation could go through a conference committee of both houses. Ultimately voters could decide which plan they prefer.

Local employer advocates say the new Senate version goes a long way toward easing the discomfort business leaders had with the original bill and the one approved by voters during the 2004 general election and the Assembly earlier this year.

"I think the new version of the bill cleans up a lot of those problems," Christina Dugan, director of government affairs for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, said. "Depending on what happens with this bill, the initiative has to go before voters twice. This version of the bill could also be on the ballot."

She said the new Senate version is much more palatable for employers. Dugan said that when the issue first went to voters to change the Nevada Constitution it wasn't clear that the Consumer Price Index mechanism was a part of the law.

"It wasn't explicit that there was a 3 percent increase in the minimum wage on an annual basis in the initial petition," Dugan said.

She said the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce would prefer to see the issue remain an issue for legislators and not be put before voters to change the state's constitution.

"One of our concerns initially when the whole minimum wage issue came forward the proposals put forward would change the constitution," Dugan said. "We thought it was something that should remain in the hands of legislators."

Pilar Weiss, political director for Culinary Union Local 226, defended the Assembly version and the initiative that went before voters in November. She said when supporters of the bill saw that a majority of voters approved of the minimum wage that was when they decided to try to pass the measure through the legislature. Otherwise minimum wage earners would have to wait for the measure to take effect after a second general election in 2006, which would change the state's constitution.

"Raising the minimum wage is a very popular concept, but for some reason the Senate has an aversion to adjusting it to the Consumer Price Index," Weiss said. "Every year everything goes up. Rather than having the constant stagnation Nevada will have a system that that responds to cost increases. The Senate took that out and replaced that by raising it by $1.25."

Weiss said now that both versions could go before voters they will likely opt for the version that includes the incremental raises based on the Consumer Price Index. She said the Consumer Price Index raises would be "modest." She also said the state's minimum wage has been stagnant and the increases are necessary to ensure the minimum wage keeps up with cost of living increases.

"I think most people are not going to be convinced by a quarter," Weiss said. "They're going to say I'd rather have it go up. If you have modest increases you'll get caught up."

Weiss disputed Dugan's claim that voters were unaware of the Consumer Price Index increases during the November election and that's why they approved of the measure.

"I think people understand the concept very well," Weiss said. "I'm not saying every person who voted on it had a thorough understanding of it. I think if you have a choice of an extra quarter today or a continual increase people are going to pick the latter."

Alana Roberts covers courts and labor relations for In Business Las Vegas and its sister publication, the Las Vegas Sun. She can be reached by e-mail at alanar@lasvegassun.com or at (702) 259-4059.