So that's interesting. I'm extremely impressed that Murray kept his promise and did this so quickly. I believe the old minimum wage in Seattle was $10, so this is quite significant.
What's funny is back when Jay Inslee was just a representative, I volunteered for him. I met him at a couple town meetings with maybe a couple dozen people in attendance. He basically said "okay, guys, what are your concerns?" and I said "a livable minimum wage." He just stared at me for a minute. Here's a polished career politician, representing Seattle most of his life, and I'd just delivered something so completely out of left field he had no idea how to respond. That was only ten years ago. How times have changed.
The seven year lead-in period (that doesn't even start for almost a year) makes this almost meaningless. In 8 years I would hope the federal minimum is at or above $15... It's crazy hearing people freak out about how this will wreck the economy though. Strange times in Seattle, still waiting on our pot stores, Colorado is way ahead and already bringing in tax $. Oh and we have a billion dollar machine stuck under our waterfront.
As an outsider I would love to see the long run implications this is going to have on the state. Just think if this does well I can see it getting passed on a national level. Maybe not as high but anything is better than the wage we have now.