Chattanooga City HallChattanooga City Councilman Moses Freeman has asked his fellow council members to sponsor legislation to set a minimum wage for the entire city of Chattanooga, not just city employees.
He asked City Attorney Wade Hinton to start researching the issue and bring proposed legislation to the council.
At a nonvoting planning meeting today, council members Jerry Mitchell and Chris Anderson said they would sponsor the legislation.
Freeman leads the council's Human Resources Committee.
After the meeting, Freeman said he was moved to bring the proposal up after the Labor Day holiday. And he said inaction at higher levels of government has put the burden of increasing wages on municipalities.
"I think it's time that we look into it. We are not getting any leadership at the state or federal levels," Freeman said. "I think workers here who are at the federal minimum - that's $7.25 an hour - that is not enough in today's world to keep workers out of poverty."
Hinton said after the meeting there "may be some legislative issues" with passing the ordinance, but declined to speak specifically.
In fact, Tennessee law may totally block the effort.
The Republican-lead legislature in 2013 passed a law restricting local governments from setting a minimum wage in excess of the state or federal minimums.
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