Organizers of the successful ballot campaign that raised Florida's minimum wage are fearful that a bill pending in the Legislature could thwart the referendum.

Florida voters approved a measure on the November 2004 ballot to raise the state's minimum wage from the federal level of $5.15 an hour to $6.15 an hour, with annual increases for inflation. In January, Florida's minimum wage was adjusted to $6.40 an hour.

Tuesday was the first anniversary of the minimum wage rising to $6.15.

However, House Bill 7165, sponsored by state Rep. David Simmons, R-Longwood, would put a proposal on the state ballot to convert a number of state constitutional amendments -- including the minimum wage measure -- to state laws. Designating certain constitutional amendments as state laws would give the Florida Legislature the power to change them.

Organizers of the 2004 minimum wage initiative said they believe the first thing the Florida Legislature would eliminate from the law would be the annual cost-of-living increases.

"We believe the ulterior motive is they want to take away the indexing price and freeze the minimum wage. They will never articulate that, but we believe that's what they're trying to do," said Jenny Lawson, state director for Florida ACORN -- short for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which helped organize the 2004 ballot drive.

Lawson and others were in Tallahassee on Tuesday, lobbying against the bill.

Simmons said his bill is before the House, but he thinks lawmakers will adopt the Senate version of the bill, which does not include the minimum wage provision. The legislative session is scheduled to end Friday.

Simmons said he thinks the minimum wage and other issues noted in his bill do not belong in the state Constitution, but added that it appears to be moot for the current session.

Simmons said it's not his intent to repeal the minimum wage law. But he has concerns that the annual increases will mount over several years, leading to "an inflationary spiral."

He referred to the 2004 minimum wage campaign as "special interests that have been able to hijack the whole system."

Florida Retail Federation President Rick McAllister said he agrees with Simmons' bill. But he also doesn't think the minimum wage part of it will be approved.

McAllister said freezing the minimum wage would be a good idea, because of the annual increases' cumulative effect on costs for business owners.

The measure not only raised the minimum wage, but boosted "the entire pay scale" as a result, he said.

"For anyone to say there's no impact (on businesses), they're not thinking about the facts," McAllister said. "The money has got to come from somewhere. It's either going to be by raising prices" for consumers, or cutting staffing or other costs.

McAllister was referring to an ACORN report released Tuesday.

Debunking critics and opponents of the measure, the report maintained there is no evidence that the minimum wage increases have hurt businesses or the economy, citing state statistics showing Florida continues to lead the nation in job growth.

Locally, Brevard County's unemployment rate was a record-low 2.8 percent in March, the latest-available figure.

Lori Stottler, general manager of the Cocoa Beach Pier, which houses several restaurants and bars, said the wage increases are forcing businesses at the pier to be more creative in organizing events to draw more people there to offset the rising costs of doing business, including the wage increases.

"You have to do things to work around that," Stottler said.

Leroy Bell, an ACORN organizer from Apopka, said Simmons' proposal represents an element in the Legislature that wants "to go above the people" and change what they voted for.

"They don't have anything better to do than take this away from us," Bell said about lawmakers who would change the law. "They allow FPL, the phone companies and the cable companies to raise rates. We need the minimum wage to go up to keep up with bills."

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