Inmate Worker Minimum Wage Bill Advances In WA

OLYMPIA, WA — Legislation requiring that incarcerated workers be paid the state's minimum wage advanced out of its first committee Thursday on a 6-3 vote. House Bill 1024 is sponsored by Rep. Tarra Simmons (D-Bremerton), Washington's first formerly incarcerated person to be elected to the legislature.

“When I was incarcerated, I was forced to work graveyard shifts for less than $0.42 per hour,” Simmons said Thursday. “No one should be coerced into providing their labor, and Washington should not profit from involuntary servitude. This bill recognizes the fundamental humanity of incarcerated people and acknowledges that most of them will one day return to our communities.”

Along with requiring workers in prison to be paid the minimum wage, Simmons' bill would bar the Department of Corrections from using previous infractions or disciplinary actions to coerce inmates into working.

If approved by lawmakers this year, Washington would become the first state in the nation to pay incarcerated workers the minimum wage. Washington's statewide wage floor is adjusted each year based on changes to the consumer price index, and this year is $15.74.

The "Real Labor, Real Wages Act" passed the House Community Safety, Justice & Reentry Committee Thursday and now sits before the Appropriations Committee. Simmons previously sponsored a bill to automatically restore voting rights for released convicted felons, which was signed into law in 2021 — her first year in the legislature.