PIERRE, S.D. (SDBA) — An attempt to raise the state minimum wage over three years to $15 an hour failed in a Senate committee this morning (Thursday).

The Senate Commerce and Energy Committee sent SB132 to the 41st legislative day on an 8 to 1 vote.

The bill’s sponsor, Democratic Sen. Reynold Nesiba of Sioux Falls, based the bill on an initiated measure Nebraska voters passed in 2022.

“One of the most important things we can do is make sure that South Dakota rewards work,” Nesiba said. “And what I worry about is that we are competing with other states to try and attract workers here. And if we’re going to compete, we should at least have the same floor that a state like the state of Nebraska has.”

The bill would have ramped up the $15 an hour wage in steps–$12.50 in 2024, $13.50 in 2025, and $15 in 2026.

Bill supporter Sister Lynn Marie Welbig with the Presentation Sisters said money solves problems.

“I watch the bills in the legislature, and there are all kinds of them dealing with need,” Welbig said. “Kids hungry. We don’t have preschool provide provisions. And these needs that we find ourselves in expressed in these bills end up causing problems. This is one of the one of the ways we can solve a problem by paying people somewhere near a living wage, and even $15 an hour has been proven not to be a living wage.”

The Noem administration opposed the measure.

“A substantial increase in wages results in substantial increases for operating expenses for many companies that would then have to likely increase prices for their products and services,” said the Bureau of Finance and Management’s Derek Johnson. “Bigger firms can more easily absorb mandated costs and invest in new technology and less on human labor. The same cannot be said of some small businesses competing with them.”

Numerous business groups also opposed the bill.

Opponent Nathan Sanderson with the South Dakota Retailers Association agreed.

“You talk to one of those small business owners, our members, and tell them that this minimum wage increase wouldn’t negatively impact their business,” Sanderson said. “They absolutely would disagree with that notion. This isn’t needed.”

The vote to kill the bill was along party lines.