WASHINGTON (AP) - Elections officials in the nation's capital have cleared the way for a $15-an-hour minimum wage to be added to the ballot.
The District of Columbia's minimum wage is currently $10.50. It will go up to $11.50 an hour next July under a law approved by the D.C. Council in 2013.
The proposed ballot initiative calls for an increase to $12.50 in 2017 and gradual increases until 2020, when the minimum wage would hit $15 an hour. The D.C. Board of Elections approved the language of the proposed initiative on Wednesday. Supporters will have to gather about 23,000 signatures to get it on next year's ballot.
Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles have raised the minimum wage to $15. The District would be the first East Coast city to do so.
