Patrick to Sign Minimum Wage, Child Sex Abuse Statute Bills

The MassLive
June 25, 2014

http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/06/patrick_to_sign_minimum_wage_c.html

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, seen in this May file photo, is expected to sign bills Thursday increasing the state minimum wage and extending the statute of limitations in child sex abuse cases. (The Republican file photo by /Michael S. Gordon )

Gov. Deval Patrick on Thursday will sign bills raising the minimum wage to $11 per hour by 2017 and extending the statute of limitations in civil child sex abuse cases.

The minimum wage bill (S 2195), which Patrick will sign at 11 a.m. in the Statehouse’s Nurses Hall, increases the wage from $8 per hour in three annual steps and gives Massachusetts the highest minimum wage in the country.

The bill also includes unemployment insurance reforms and increases wages for tipped workers to $3.75 from $2.63.

At 2 p.m., Patrick is scheduled to sign in Room 157 a bill extending the statute of limitations in civil child sex abuse cases (H 4126).

The bill extends the statute to 35 years after a victim turns 18, up from three years, meaning individuals can file lawsuits until they turn 53 years old. The bill also allows individuals who discover late in life they’ve suffered emotional and psychological harm to file a claim seven years after the discovery, up from the current three years.