It was a hectic week for Democratic leaders on Beacon Hill, with a rush to get a bill on the governor's desk that would block ballot questions from going forward on the minimum wage, paid leave, and the state's sales taxes. It's a trio that Gov. Charlie Baker and others have called the “Grand Bargain.”

WGBH State House reporter Mike Deehan spoke with WGBH's All Things Considered host Barbara Howard about what’s going on up at Beacon Hill. The following transcript has been edited for clarity.

Barbara Howard: So is it a win or a loss for supporters of those ballot questions?

Mike Deehan: It's certainly a win for retailers. They were the ones behind the threat to lower the sales tax through a ballot question. That was almost a ploy to get what they really wanted all along, which they did get in this bargain: an annual sales tax holiday and the elimination of time and a half hours on Sunday for retail workers.

Howard: But the sales tax stays the same?

Deehan: But the sales tax will stay at 6.25 percent.

Howard: OK — then there's the ballot question about paid leave?

Deehan: The paid leave question is also a win. That coalition pretty much got what they were asking for, which is a new program to provide funds for time off to welcome a new baby, care for a sick loved one, that kind of thing.

Howard: And they got that?

Deehan: They got that in this bargain, yes.

Howard: OK. What about the minimum $15 wage?

Deehan: Even though they got the $15 wage, the coalition behind that — the kind of "Fight for 15" crowd — they suspect they may have gotten the raw end of the "Grand Bargain," so to speak.

This does raise the minimum wage $1 a year over the next five years starting in 2019.

Howard: But I've got to say, will $15 be the new $11? Will it be inadequate to live in Boston?

Deehan: Absolutely, so this is the major crux that the coalition is fighting against here and they have not completely agreed with this bargain. In the ballot question they have before voters, they would index the minimum wage to inflation …

Howard: Tying it to something real …

Deehan: Tying it to something real, so that once it hits $15 after five years, in year six perhaps it would be $15.10, something like that depending on the Consumer Price Index. That is not in this bargain bill that the legislature has put on Baker's desk, therefore the people behind that $15 minimum wage question might still go to the ballot with their version of the $15 that includes that inflation.

Howard: What happens after the fifth year?

Deehan: It stays at $15 and then it's kind of back to the lawmakers to see if there's a $16 or maybe will have the fight for $20, in the 2020s.

Howard: OK. At this point where is Gov. Baker? What might be signed into law?

Deehan: Right now Gov. Baker is in Chicago, so he's not looking at this bill right now. He said yesterday that he was going to look at it with his legal counsel and his team to see if it was acceptable. He has been very encouraged by this — he wanted lawmakers to get this deal done.

He has been saying for months and months and months that instead of these ballot questions going forward to voters, the legislature should get ahead of it and get a law, very similar to this, on his desk. It's there. He is in Chicago to give a commencement speech, he said he's going to start looking at it on Monday and that's the same day that the "Raise Up Coalition" is going to ratify or reject whether or not they want that $15 minimum wage ballot question to go forward.

Howard: All three of these, they are tied together, we'll see what the governor does.

Deehan: The bargain continues.

Howard: That's WGBH State House reporter Mike Deehan explaining the legislature's “Grand Bargain.” This is All Things Considered.