SB 273: Minimum Wage; certain provisions regarding the minimum wage law; revise

Georgia's current minimum wage law (O.C.G.A. § 34-4-3) sets a base wage of $5.15 per hour, though most Georgia workers are actually covered by the higher federal minimum wage. This bill rewrites that state law to raise the state minimum wage to $22.00 per hour and requires the Georgia Department of Labor to adjust it every year starting January 1, 2026 based on changes in the cost of living, measured using a federal consumer price index. The bill also lets employers of tipped workers count tips toward up to 50 percent of the minimum wage. It removes exemptions that previously excluded domestic employees, farm workers, and tipped employees from coverage, while keeping exemptions for small employers, student workers, newspaper carriers, and certain nonprofit institutions, and raising the sales threshold for exempt small businesses from $40,000 to $50,000 per year. The changes would take effect January 1, 2026.

• Raises the state minimum wage set in O.C.G.A. § 34-4-3 from $5.15 to $22.00 per hour for covered employees.
• Requires the Georgia Department of Labor to recalculate the minimum wage every year starting in 2026 based on cost-of-living data measured each September.
• Allows employers of tipped workers who qualify under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act to count tips toward up to 50 percent of the minimum wage owed.
• Removes the state law exemptions for domestic employees, farm owners or sharecroppers, and employees paid mainly through tips.
• Raises the small-business exemption threshold from employers with $40,000 or less in annual sales to $50,000 or less.
• Raises the annual compensation floor for exempt live-in employees of certain nonprofit child-care or long-term care institutions from $10,000 to $15,000.

Georgia employers and workers covered by the state minimum wage law, including small businesses near the sales exemption threshold, tipped workers such as restaurant servers, domestic workers, farm workers, student employees, newspaper carriers, and staff of nonprofit child-care or long-term care institutions.

Because most Georgia employers already follow the higher federal minimum wage, this bill mainly affects employers and workers who fall under the state law's specific exemptions. Removing exemptions for domestic and farm workers and tipped employees would bring more of them under Georgia's minimum wage protections, while the annual adjustment ties future increases to inflation.

• Section 1 raises the base minimum wage in O.C.G.A. § 34-4-3 from $5.15 to $22.00 per hour.
• Section 1 adds a new annual adjustment process: the Department of Labor measures cost-of-living changes each September 30 and publishes an updated wage rate effective the following January 1.
• Section 1 creates a tip credit allowing employers of qualifying tipped workers to count tips toward up to 50 percent of the minimum wage.
• Section 1 removes exemptions for domestic employees, farm owners, sharecroppers, land renters, and employees paid mainly by gratuities.
• Section 1 raises the small-employer sales exemption from $40,000 to $50,000 per year and the compensation floor for certain live-in nonprofit institution employees from $10,000 to $15,000.
• Section 2 sets the effective date as January 1, 2026.

1. 2025-02-27Senate Read and Referred (Senate)
2. 2025-02-26Senate Hopper (Senate)

• Kenya Wicks (D, SD-34)Primary sponsor
• Harold Jones II (D, SD-22)
• Kim Jackson (D, SD-41)
• Elena Parent (D, SD-44)
• Nan Orrock (D, SD-36)
• Nikki Merritt (D, SD-9)
• Ed Harbison (D, SD-15)
• Sheikh Rahman (D, SD-5)
• David Lucas (D, SD-26)
• Josh McLaurin (D, SD-14)
• RaShaun Kemp (D, SD-38)
• Sally Harrell (D, SD-40)
• Gail Davenport (D, SD-17)
• Donzella James (D, SD-28)
• Freddie Powell Sims (D, SD-12)
• Michael 'Doc' Rhett (D, SD-33)
• Derek Mallow (D, SD-2)
• Randal Mangham (D, SD-55)
• Tonya Anderson (D, SD-43)
• Nabilah Parkes (D, SD-7)

• minimum wage
• tipped workers
• labor law
• small business regulation
• cost of living adjustments