PHOENIX — Two Republicans joined all Democrats on a House panel Wednesday to defeat a measure designed to make the cities of Tucson and Flagstaff pay for their higher minimum wages — but not because the GOP lawmakers like the voter-approved boosts.
Instead, Republican Rep. David Livingston said a better approach is for the cities to repeal their minimum wage laws and even to help repeal the initiative that boosted the statewide minimum wage and allows individual cities to raise it above the state base.
That, he said, is what is driving inflation in those cities and across Arizona and the nation.
