Donna Gratehouse, who blogs at Democratic Diva and elsewhere on all things Arizona, sends us this.

Raise your hand if you were supporting yourself and maybe helping to support your family when you were 18. I know I was, so I can’t fathom what the Arizona Legislature is thinking by putting forth a ballot referendum that would allow employers to pay workers under 20 years of age substantially less than the state’s minimum wage. Currently it is at $7.65 an hour but this recent measure, if approved by voters, would allow businesses to pay teens and young adults as little as $4.65 an hour.

Proponents argue that it would only apply to those working less than 20 hours a week or for a duration of 90 days or less and that Arizona’s minimum wage stifles job creation. The assumption behind this is that young people who work part time live at home or are otherwise supported by their parents and don’t really need the income. This ignores the harsh economic reality of many families in Arizona, where every working member’s income is needed to keep a roof overhead and dinner on table. And oftentimes part-time work is all that is available to young people. It’s also incredible that the Legislature would propose this at the same time they are seeking to raise tuition at Arizona’s colleges an average of $2000 per student.

“What happened to equal pay for equal work?” asked Wyatt Manoil, a college student who works part-time to help pay his living expenses at school.

I’m barely making it as it is. I don’t even think I could afford to work if that’s all I was making.

Indeed, it’s hard to understand how anyone could think that paying workers less than subsistence wages would benefit Arizona’s economy. No one, not even supporters, expects the referendum to pass at the ballot box. Voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot initiative in 2006 that raised Arizona’s minimum wage higher than the federal rate and indexed it to inflation despite intense negative campaigning by the restaurant and other industries. So this is basically tea party legislators wasting our time rather than taking tangible steps to balance the budget and bring good jobs to Arizona.