Wyoming lawmakers suggest minimum wage hike

A Wyoming lawmaker is proposing raising the minimum wage in the state to $9.50 an hour from $5.15.

The Casper Star-Tribune reports that Rep. Jim Byrd, D-Cheyenne, is sponsoring a bill to raise the wage. He has petitioned for increasing the minimum wage since 2014.

Wyoming’s minimum wage is the lowest in the country, along with Georgia’s. Employers can pay the lower wage unless workers do $500,000 or more in gross annual sales or if they engage in interstate commerce, at which point employers must pay the federal rate of $7.25.

Byrd has proposed raising the wage to $9 an hour in the past two years, with the Legislature defeating both measures