Following a press conference held by Assembly Minority Leader Brian M. Kolb (R,C-Canandaigua), Assemblyman Steve Hawley (R,C,I-Batavia) has denounced the governor’s plan to raise New York’s minimum wage to $15 per hour, citing the devastating impact on small businesses and other job creators.

“As a four-decade small-business owner and one who has grown his company from the ground up, I know what we need to jumpstart New York’s stagnant business climate, and a 67 percent minimum wage increase will not work,” Hawley said. “I understand that there are many working poor in our state who are doing everything they can to get by on the current minimum wage, but the consequences of this sharp increase would have the reverse of its intention: causing hundreds of thousands of jobs to be eliminated, companies to move out of state, and consumer prices to increase.”

Hawley proposed several solutions that would help the working poor directly without hindering small businesses or adversely affecting jobs.

“I understand that there are many New Yorkers living paycheck to paycheck and I want to help them too,” Hawley said. “I sponsor A.9102, which would expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which hasn’t been adjusted in 12 years. This is estimated to introduce more than 14,000 New Yorkers into the workforce without damaging our business community. I also sponsor, A.7486, which would allow the EITC to be distributed in installment payments to help the working poor with monthly expenses.”