Healey opposes ballot questions on tipped wage increase, MCAS grad requirement

Gov. Maura Healey said Wednesday she’s voting no on a ballot question that would change the pay structure for tipped employees out of concern it would lead to restaurant closures.

It’s a stance the governor says is informed by both her conversations with restaurant industry personnel and her own experience waiting tables in her teens and 20s.

“I think it’s important to vote no on this because I think you run the risk of closing restaurants and putting these workers out of work, actually, because the restaurant owners I speak [to] are not going to be able to afford this and they’re going to end up laying off people,” Healey said during her monthly appearance on Boston Public Radio. “In some instances, some have told me they’re just going to shut down.”

In Massachusetts, where the standard state minimum wage is $15 an hour, businesses can pay their tipped employees a lower minimum wage of $6.75 an hour. Employers are required to make up the difference if that pay plus tips does not equal the full minimum wage.

Question 5 on this year’s ballot would change that, gradually eliminating the lower pay floor so that by 2029, businesses like restaurants would pay their workers the full minimum wage, and any tips from customers would come on top of that amount.

Healey said she waitressed “on and off” between the ages of 13 and 24, including morning shifts at a diner and time as a cocktail waitress at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom in her home state of New Hampshire.

She called the ballot question, backed by the national group One Fair Wage, “a well-intentioned effort brought by out-of-state interests.”

“Look, as the attorney general, I fought hard for workplace protections, for fair wages, for benefits, for all that, so I am certainly in this camp,” Healey said. “But I think this actually harms that effort, and that’s why I feel really strongly about this particular question.”

Supporters of the ballot question argue that the lower wage leaves restaurant workers vulnerable to exploitation and economic instability. Opponents, including the Massachusetts Restaurant Association and Massachusetts Republican Party, have taken positions similar to Healey’s, warning of the burden from added operating costs.

Healey’s stance puts her at odds with some prominent Democrats, including presidential nominee Kamala Harris, whose economic platform includes a call to end the subminimum wage for tipped workers. Former presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton endorsed Massachusetts Question 5 earlier this week.

“You know, I had a short experience living on tips when I was a law school student, but there are people in Massachusetts who have lived on tips for decades,” Clinton said in a One Fair Wage video. “Tipped workers are mostly women, and they’re working hard not to make a living, but to overcome the harassment and economic barriers that stand in their way.”

Healey stayed tight-lipped on most of the other ballot questions, saying she’s “still reviewing” both Question 3, which would let Uber and Lyft drivers unionize, and Question 4, which would legalize and regulate certain natural psychedelics.

On Question 1 — which would pit Democratic elected officials against each other by authorizing Auditor Diana DiZoglio to audit a state Legislature whose leaders view such a probe as unconstitutional — Healey said, “I’ll leave that to the voters.” She did not disclose how she plans to vote herself.

Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Attorney General Andrea Campbell were set to headline a press conference later Wednesday to discuss their opposition to Question 2, which would end the use of MCAS exams as a high school graduation requirement.

“I don’t want different requirements for Chelsea than Wellesley, for example. You know, there’s got to be some uniform requirement,” Healey said during her radio interview. “And then our job in government, the state and local level is to support our educators, support our paras, support teachers and support students in districts, right, in making sure they’re providing the resources to meet those standards.”

The Massachusetts Teachers Association, which endorsed Healey for governor in 2022, is a main proponent of the MCAS ballot question. It’s also supported by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley.

“Testing is a tool — that’s it,” Pressley said earlier this month. “But for far too long, high-stakes tests in Massachusetts have gotten in the way of instruction, and in my view, done a disservice to our learning communities.”