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Group Backing Minimum Wage Question Cites Success

A group backing proposed ballot questions that would increase the minimum wage in Massachusetts and require that all workers be given earned sick time says it has collected nearly 270,000 signatures.

That would be nearly four times the number of signatures required to be submitted to city and town clerks by a deadline on Wednesday.

The Raise Up Massachusetts Coalition announced the results of its petition drive on Monday, one day before the scheduled debate in the state Senate on a bill to raise the minimum wage from the current $8 an hour to $11 an hour by 2016.

The bill is opposed by several business groups.

If the Legislature does not act on the minimum wage or earned sick time proposals, the questions could go before voters on the November 2014 state ballot.

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.