House Democrats are just waiting until they have enough supportive members in their seats to pass a bill that would increase the state’s minimum wage to $7 an hour.

The bill has been sitting as unfinished business on the House calendar since Jan. 5. That’s because the tally is expected to be so close that Democratic leadership won’t risk running the bill until they know they have the votes.

Word in the Statehouse halls on Tuesday was the bill would come up on Wednesday, which was photo day in the House. That’s the day when the group picture of legislators is taken to hang on the back wall of the chamber.

“If I were in charge, that’s when I’d run it,” quipped one member. The House was scheduled to meet after this newspaper’s deadline.

If approved in the House, the bill then would go to the Senate for a vote.

The bill, which was supported by the Democratic majority on the Labor Committee, would increase the current minimum wage of $6.50 to $6.75 this October and then to $7 in October of 2007.

The wage just went up to $6.50 in October of 2005 after the last Legislature passed a similar two-step increase, which took it to $6.35 in October of 2004 and to $6.50 last fall.

Proponents say that people simply can’t live on the current minimum wage. Opponents say it largely affects young, single workers and is intended to be a training wage for those just entering the workforce.

A third argument is the wage may be too low, but the federal government, not Maine, should be the one to raise it. If the state goes it alone, they say, it will put Maine at a competitive disadvantage in terms of attracting and sustaining business.

The federal wage currently is at $5.15 and hasn’t been raised since 1997. Maine is among 17 states and the District of Columbia that have opted to raise their wage above the federal minimum.

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