Gov. Martin O?Malley of Maryland signed the nation?s first statewide living wage bill yesterday, giving fresh momentum to a movement that seeks to raise wages through legislation. Under the law, employers with state contracts will generally have to pay workers a minimum amount ? $11.30 an hour in the Baltimore-Washington corridor and $8.50 an hour in the rural counties, where wages and prices are usually lower. The Maryland state minimum wage is $6.15 an hour, one dollar above the federal minimum. In 1994, Baltimore became the first city in the country to require a living wage for city contracts.
See "Maryland Is First State to Require Living Wage", Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times, May 8, 2007