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Read. Follow. Verify.Kentucky Bill HB 349 raises state minimum wage to $11 per hour and indexes annual increases through 2031
Last action · January 21, 2026: to Economic Development & Workforce Investment (H)Sponsors: Pamela Stevenson and 1 other
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What This Bill Proposed
Kentucky House Bill 349 raises the state minimum wage to $11 per hour upon the Act's effective date, stepping up to $17 per hour by July 1, 2030, followed by annual Consumer Price Index adjustments beginning in 2031. The measure also raises the minimum wage for s to $8 per hour initially, reaching $17 per hour by 2031, while prohibiting employers from using employee tips as a credit toward the base minimum wage. Additionally, the bill updates definitions relating to professional firefighter overtime calculations and franchise employment exclusions.
- Kentucky's state minimum wage has remained at the federal baseline of $7.25 per hour since July 1, 2009. context
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Kentucky employees
Kentucky employers
Businesses must comply with higher scheduled minimum wage floors, adjust payroll systems, and adapt to the updated $500,000 gross sales exemption threshold.
Tipped employees
Professional firefighters
Firefighters receive explicit statutory clarification regarding how foundation program fund supplements are factored into scheduled and unscheduled overtime rates.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can employers use customer tips to cover the minimum wage requirement for tipped workers?
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · in House committee.
Procedural history
2 actions- Jan 21, 2026HouseCommitteeto Economic Development & Workforce Investment (H)
- Jan 13, 2026HouseIntroducedintroduced in House to Committee on Committees (H)
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Transition to Indexed Minimum Wage
Kentucky shifts from a fixed statutory minimum wage to an inflation-indexed adjustment model starting in 2031.
Connected Entities
Sources
apps.legislature.ky.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 90)
- Controversy75Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz65Current news / social attention level
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