Amusement parks and other similar seasonal businesses in Idaho could soon not have to pay workers the minimum wage. Federal law includes an exemption for seasonal workers like at amusement parks or recreation centers to earn a lower hourly wage. The Idaho Senate voted Wednesday to apply that federal standard to state law. Idaho follows the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour for most workers.
Sen. Brent Hill, R-Rexburg, sponsored the measure on behalf of the owner of Yellowstone Bear World, a drive through animal preserve in eastern Idaho. “Every high school kid in Madison County wants to work at Yellowstone Bear World,” he said on the Senate floor. However, he added that the park’s owner was hit by the rise in minimum wage during the past few years, which led him to look into the exemption. “I don’t think it’s right that an employer in Idaho should be subject to two different minimum wage requirements, a federal and a state one,” he said. “I think this is the fair thing to do and the kind of environment we want to make for employers in Idaho.”
“This would impact employees in many other establishments around the state,” said Sen. Nicole LeFavour, D-Boise, who opposed the exemption. “I do think it would be unfair to see the wages in other facilities drop as a result of this legislation.”
The measure now moves to the House. Other state exemptions to the minimum wage are for agricultural workers, domestic service workers, and children under 16 working odd jobs. The text of Hill’s legislation is available here.