Arizona Lawsuit Highlights ‘New Spin’ on Wage Law Preemptions

A legal fight over the $15 minimum wage in Flagstaff, Ariz., hinges on the state’s alternative approach to preempting local labor laws—as lawmakers use state budget rules to penalize cities that impose their own wage mandates.

Half of states ban cities and counties from setting their own minimum wages that are higher than the statewide minimum, and legislatures are perpetually considering ways to strengthen or expand those and related labor-law preemptions, particularly among GOP-majority statehouses looking to restrain Democratic-controlled city commissions. But conservative Arizona lawmakers have had to get creative since their state constitution specifically permits local wage laws under ...