A Republican-dominated panel of Florida lawmakers on Wednesday advanced a proposal that would allow employers in Florida to legally pay certain entry-level workers less than the state minimum wage of $14 an hour, if passed.
The bill (HB 221) would allow employers to create subminimum-wage jobs for interns, “pre-apprentices” and “work-study learners” for up to roughly eight months, or the duration of two college semesters. These subminimum wage workers would have to be paid at least the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. They would also have to voluntarily “opt out” of being paid the state’s higher minimum wage by signing a waiver form.
Republican Rep. Ryan Chamberlin, the bill sponsor, explained, “An unintended consequence of Florida’s constitutional minimum wage is that it cripples an employer’s ability to provide more opportunities for unskilled workers in areas of apprenticeship and education.”
His said his bill simply “allows the option for an employer to offer work-based learning positions to completely inexperienced individuals in exchange for the value in learning a skill or trade that could enhance their long-term income-earning future.”
The bill states that employers would be prohibited from “coercing” any worker into signing away their right to minimum wage, but doesn’t establish any sort of enforcement mechanism or accountability measures. Workers under 18 years old also would need a parent’s consent to the lower wage, under the proposal.
Florida Rep. Judson Sapp, a Republican from Green Cove Springs and CEO of a railroad contractor, said Florida’s minimum wage, as it is, is killing the American Dream for business owners like himself. “The American dream is dying because we can’t afford to give people a shot,” Sapp, a multimillionaire according to financial disclosure filings, told the House Industries and Professional Activities Subcommittee. “And sometimes taking a shot means you take a gamble.”
The bill passed its first hearing in a 11-6 vote Wednesday, mostly along party lines. Nearly all Republicans voting in favor, while Democrats voted in opposition.
Rep. Susan Valdes, who switched her affiliation from Democrat to Republican in late 2024, joined Democrats in opposition to the bill, citing concerns that it could hurt workers who are seeking out apprenticeship or intern programs in order to enter a higher-paying field or industry. The bill was previously filed for consideration during the 2025 legislative session but failed to pass.
“A young person, a person with a family that’s trying to retool themselves and trying to better themselves, cannot really sustain their family” on the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, said Valdes.
Rep. Judson Sapp, a multimillionaire per financial disclosures, said Florida’s minimum wage is killing the American Dream for business owners like himself.
She said she knows multiple families in her district in Tampa who are living under one roof in a single-family home because they can’t afford to do otherwise. Even Florida’s current minimum wage of $14 an hour amounts to just $29,140 annually for a person working full-time.
“It’s a very tough time in our state, in our nation, as far as when it comes to affordability,” Valdes said. “So for that reason, today, I’ll be down on the bill.”
Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2020 to gradually raise the state minimum wage to $15 an hour by Sept. 30, 2026. At the time that nearly 61 percent of Florida voters approved that ballot initiative in 2020, the state minimum wage was just $8.56 an hour.
Rep. Chamberlin, the sponsor of the bill to essentially create a minimum-wage loophole for employers, claimed the idea is to create jobs (subminimum-wage jobs, mind you) and allow employers to afford to bring on more employees at a lower cost. “We’re giving the employer the option to have flexibility,” said Chamberlin, who similarly sponsored the last iteration of the bill in 2025.
“There’s positions there that they’re just not going to create if the government or the state is forcing them to pay a certain rate — this could open up opportunities,” he argued.
Critics of the proposal last year warned that employers would try to exploit the loophole created in Chamberlin’s bill in order to pay any entry-level worker less — by, for instance, misclassifying a minimum-wage cashier as an “intern.”
Chamberlin, in response to these concerns, said on Wednesday he’s “tightened” the language this year to ensure “not just anybody can create a random position” eligible for the subminimum wage that would be legalized under his proposal.
His proposal was amended slightly Wednesday to define “work-based learning opportunity,” to help alleviate any confusion. It also reduced the amount of time that an employer can pay a subminimum wage from nine months to 252 days for workers age 18 and older, or up to 126 days for workers under age 18. No industry would be barred from offering such subminimum wage job opportunities, even if they involve hazards.
Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando) argued that she believes the bill is unconstitutional, since Florida’s minimum wage is enshrined in the state constitution. Chamberlain said that, because a worker would have to “opt out” of receiving minimum wage, or sign a document waiving their right, he doesn’t believe it would be a problem.
“As of right now, I believe that it is constitutional, and it falls in line with us being able to waive other types of constitutional rights as well,” he argued.
This latest effort to undermine minimum wage requirements in Florida comes as the issue of affordability has taken center stage in both state and national politics. Recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows U.S. workers are taking home less of the country’s overall wealth, as corporate earnings skyrocket.
And in Florida, a living wage — accounting for basic living expenses, such as groceries and housing — is estimated to be something closer to $23 per hour for a single adult with no kids, or higher if you have dependents.
Rep. Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville) said the effort to frame this minimum-wage loophole as a job creator and hand-up for small businesses was disingenuous, at best. “The system is broken,” she said bluntly. “That is why the people of the great state of Florida decided to put an amendment on the ballot to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour,” she pointed out, referring to the 2020 ballot initiative that won more votes in Florida that year than either Donald Trump or Joe Biden.
“This is about pushing people into poverty and getting corrupt corporations and greedy billionaires richer, period”
“So don’t get on here, on this dais, and simply tell people this is about creating new jobs and opportunities for people,” Nixon continued. “This isn’t about creating opportunities. This is about pushing people into poverty and getting corrupt corporations and greedy billionaires richer, period.”
More than a dozen members of the public waived their opposition to Chamberlin’s bill on Wednesday (in lieu of providing verbal testimony in front of House lawmakers), while absolutely zero people waived or spoke in support of it.
Amina Spahic, political director for the progressive group Florida for All, and Dr. Rich Templin of the Florida AFL-CIO — a statewide federation of more than 500 labor unions — spoke against it.
“The bill would basically reclassify workers to learners,” Spahic argued. “So if the intent is to educate and train, why not require at least state minimum wage while they’re training? What prevents an employer from replacing an entry-level pay position with a rotating series of unpaid learning opportunities?”
Dr. Templin, meanwhile, pointed out the lack of an enforcement mechanism to ensure this kind of minimum wage carve-out wouldn’t be abused. “The [Department of Education] is not contemplated in this bill, or the governor’s Department of Commerce. Like, nobody is incorporated here to figure out how that works, so that we’re not just getting cheap labor, but we’re actually getting educational opportunities and work training opportunities.”
Chamberlin’s bill must still be approved by two additional panels of state representatives, plus the majority of the Republican-dominated House in order to pass. The legislation must also be approved by a majority in the Florida Senate and the governor.
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