A new proposal in Pennsylvania would increase the minimum wage to $20 per hour, making it the highest in the country.

State Sen. Christine Tartaglione, a Democrat, introduced legislation Tuesday that would increase the state’s $7.25 minimum wage, which is on par with the federal mark, to $20 per hour.

“Tellingly, $7.24/hr is the very definition of a poverty-level wage for a childless adult under the Department of Health and Human Services’ Poverty Guidelines and is even further below the threshold when factoring in children,” Tartaglione said in her memo.

The Pennsylvania Commonwealth’s Department of Health and Human Services sets the poverty line at $7.24, one cent below the commonwealth’s minimum wage.

“Keeping people in poverty is not how we move the Commonwealth forward — our current wage is immoral and unjustifiable,” Tartaglione said.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology estimates that childless adults in Pennsylvania need $21.95 per hour in order to support themselves in 2024. According to the Department of Labor & Industry’s 2024 Minimum Wage Report, about 68,000 Pennsylvanians are making the $7.25 minimum wage. The proposed increase would affect an estimated 1.5 million people.

The bill also proposes setting the tipped minimum wage to 70% of the minimum wage. Other members of the Pennsylvania legislature have backed a $15 per hour minimum wage, but Tartaglione is the first to propose $20.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

“The sad truth is that $15 an hour is no longer a living wage,” Tartaglione said.

If successful, wages would increase as soon as July 1. The District of Columbia has the highest minimum wage in the country at $17 an hour, with Washington state in a close second at $16.28 an hour.