A bill raising the Massachusetts minimum wage cleared the Committee on Labor and Workforce Development last week. This move will likely create a vote in the Senate on the first Massachusetts minimum wage hike in four years. Senate Bill 951 calls for a minimum wage increase in July 2012 to $9.50 per hour and an automatic increase again in July 2013 to $10 per hour. Furthermore, increases in the state minimum wage would be based on adjustments in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for all Urban Consumers as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States Department of Labor. The adjustments in the Massachusetts State Minimum Wage would begin in 2014. Should the bill be enacted, it would also allow for annual cost-of-living adjustments. Lately minimum wage legislation is a controversial topic because of concerns over economic conditions. The big question is “to raise or not to raise”?