Assignment:
Last year, State Representative Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston) filed H.B. 290 to raise the Texas minimum wage in stages, reaching $10.10 by 2024.
The Center for Public Policy Priorities, a left-leaning advocacy organization, supports raising the Texas minimum wage above the federal level. They argue that low-skill workers' pay has not risen at the same rate as their cost of living - particularly for housing.
The Texas Restaurant Association represents restaurants - large and small - throughout Texas. They have argued that raising minimum wages above the equilibrium level for unskilled workers means that many of the most vulnerable workers will lose their jobs as companies find ways make do with fewer of them. Self-service checkout lines in grocery stores are an example of what happens when wages rise above the natural level set by the market.
Tell me what you would do in each of these three roles.
2 to 5 page essay with three specific sections.
1. If you were representing the Center for Public Policy Priorities at a lobbyist, what would you do to help pass Rep. Thompson's bill?
2. If you were representing the Texas Restaurant Association as a lobbyist, what would you do to change or defeat the bill?
3. If you were a state legislator, how would you deal with these competing interests? What information would you want, and how would you view the issue?
Submit in Word. Cite your sources.
Here's the Center for Public Policy Priorities: https://forabettertexas.org/
Here's the Texas Restaurant Association: https://www.txrestaurant.org/
Here's H.B. 290: https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=86R&Bill=HB290