Arizona Supreme Court allows GOP minimum wage measure to stay on ballot

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled that a Republican measure to allow employers to pay some tipped workers less than minimum wage can stay on the November ballot.

Proposition 138 would allow workers to be paid 25% less than the minimum wage if employers prove the worker takes home the minimum wage plus $2 per hour when including their tips.

Opponents of the measure, who had backed their own ballot measure to increase Arizona’s minimum wage, argued the “short title” given to the measure by the Republican lawmakers who sent it to the ballot – the Tipped Workers Protection Act – was misleading.

But both a trial court and the Arizona Supreme Court disagreed.

The high court ruled unanimously that the title is not deceptive and misleading and does “not create a significant danger of electorate confusion or unfairness.”

The court ordered the Secretary of State to keep Prop. 138 on the ballot.

The Arizona Restaurant Association, which backed the measure, praised the ruling.

“Passage of Prop. 138 is Arizona’s best protection against out-of-state special interests who want to install a California-style pay system that means smaller tips for workers, higher costs for families and lost jobs for small businesses,” association President Steve Chucri said in a statement.

Raise the Wage, the group that challenged Prop. 138’s constitutionality, agreed to pull its own measure off the ballot earlier this month as it faced a legal challenge. The group said it would continue to use its resources to back state and federal legislation to raise the state’s minimum wage.