Wednesday, May 17, 2017 | 3:02 p.m.
CARSON CITY — The Senate has approved a bill to raise the minimum wage in Nevada and legislation to open the door for annual sessions of the Legislature.
They were two of nearly 50 bills passed by the Senate today.
On a party-line, 12-9 vote, Democrats pushed through Senate Bill 106, which would boost the minimum wage to $12 an hour in five years. The bill would raise the wage 75 cents a year.
The present minimum wage is $8.25 an hour if an employer does not provide health insurance and $7.25 if it does. The Nevada Constitution now ties increases in the minimum wage to the annual cost of living index.
The bill now goes to the Assembly.
A proposed constitutional amendment to require an annual session of the Legislature also was approved on a 12-9 vote. The proposal would be put to a public vote in 2020 if the 2019 Legislature approves it.
The Senate also endorsed an Assembly resolution 19-2 opposing locating a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nye County.
On another party line vote, the Senate passed a resolution urging that Congress not repeal the Affordable Care Act, more commonly referred to as Obamacare.
