Kansas Senator Cindy Holscher has presented a bill, SB 471, in front of the Kansas state government to raise the minimum wage to $16 an hour rather than the federal rate of $7.25.

“Honestly, we’re in an affordability crisis in both rural and urban areas,” Holscher said. “It’s past time for us to do something about this and raise the minimum wage.”

Currently, 31 states have raised their minimum wage above the federal rate, five states have no specific minimum wage and 16 states have not raised their rate — Kansas included — according to the Department of Labor.

“No one can make a living off of $7.25 an hour, so I definitely think they should raise it,” junior Stella Miyares said. 

While most students at Northwest are making more than the minimum wage, the increase in rates would cause many to see a raise in their paychecks.

This is one of many minimum wage bills proposed to the Kansas government in recent years, yet none of them have been passed so far. 

“When you’re talking about minimum wages, you’re talking about fairness over efficiency,” Economics teacher Matthew Wolfe said. “If you leave the market alone it’s going to be efficient, if you put a price floor on it, which is what a minimum wage is, you have the potential to cause more unemployment because you’re raising the cost on employers.”

Holscher’s bill is currently awaiting a hearing with the Kansas Government, which would put it on track to get passed. 

“The fact of the matter is our legislature is often controlled by some corporations, that’s who funds campaigns and some of our peers in the legislature,” Holsch said. “So that’s often why some bills, like this one, can take a while to get traction.”