A growing number of states around the nation are exercising control of minimum wages by preempting the establishment of local minimums, paid sick leave and other employment mandates, according to a new report. In “City Rights in an Era of Preemption”, the National League of Cities laments the proliferation of state preemption and alleges that “state preemption limits the ability of cities to address critical local issues . . . ” The report identifies 24 states that have preempted local minimum wages and 17 that have prohibited local paid sick leave mandates. It was silent on the negative impact of the patchwork of differing mandates on businesses. In that vein, the City Council for Flagstaff, Arizona has rejected a petition for a special election asking voters to rescind a local $2 minimum wage hike that adds to a state increase, both of which were approved in November, 2016. The rejection means the issue can’t be revisited until 2018. The Kansas City minimum wage battle continues, but the court has decided that there is insufficient time to put the question on the April ballot, thereby pushing the question off until an August special election. The effort to undo voter enacted petitions in the state of Maine is moving forward as restaurant owners and workers have joined forces to push for changes to a new state minimum wage law that eliminates a lower “tipped worker wage”. Similarly, business groups have come together to encourage the Maine legislature to repeal an additional 3% surcharge on incomes over $200,000, the Maine version of a “millionaire’s tax”. And, in the Connecticut state senate, evenly divided between republicans and democrats, an effort to increase the state minimum wage to $15 an hour stalled by virtue of a tie vote!