Published: April 10, 2026
By: AnnMarie Bedard, LSU Manship School News Service
BATON ROUGE–The House Labor Committee voted 7-5 along party lines to kill a bill that would have established a state minimum wage starting at $12 an hour on Jan. 1, 2027.
Republicans voted against the bill, and Democrats supported it. The party split was similar to votes in most years since former Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, began trying to set a wage above the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour.
Louisiana is one of five states in the U.S. that does not have a state minimum wage. Instead, employers use the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour that was set in 2009.
The bill, House Bill 353, by Rep. Tammy Phelps, D-Shreveport, would have further raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2029 and included cost of living increases starting in 2031.
Supporters of the bill voiced concerns about the effect of low wages on residents’ ability to deal with increased prices for necessities, like groceries and gas, and on economic development. Some said Louisiana has lost talent to neighboring states that offer higher wages. Arkansas raised its minimum wage to $11 in 2021.
Read more at WWLTV.
LSU Manship School Statehouse Bureau 
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