Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont has pledged to sign legislation passed Friday that would raise the state’s minimum wage in stages to $15 an hour in 2023. The move affects about 330,000 state workers.

connecticut-state-capitol

Connecticut State Capitol

The current minimum wage is $10.10 an hour. The bill increases the minimum wage to $11 on Oct. 1, $12 on Sept. 1, 2020, $13 on Aug. 1, 2021, $14 on July 1, 2022 and $15 on Oct. 15, 2023. After that, increases will be tied into the federal Employment Cost Index, which tracks wages and is less volatile than the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

The eventual minimum wage would represent about $31,000 a year for a full-time worker, as opposed to an annual wage of about $21,000 under the current standard.

The bill also contains provisions to prevent businesses from replacing older workers with younger, less expensive workers, and also to provide a training wage of $10.10 per hour for workers aged 16 and 17 who work less than 90 days per year.

The House passed the bill after an all-night session that lasted 14 hours. The Senate began debate at 8:30 p.m. Thursday (May 16) and ended it at 2:45 a.m. Friday (May 17).  Both votes turned out to be along party lines, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed on grounds that the increase would hit Mom-and-Pop businesses hard.

The other states phasing in $15-an-hour minimum wage rates are California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.