Senate President Joseph Montalbano, center, and Senate Minority Leader Dennis Algiere, right, talk with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Stephen Alves, left, in the Senate chamber yesterday.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

PROVIDENCE — With no discussion and no dissent, the Senate voted yesterday to raise the state’s minimum wage by an automatic yearly increase of up to 3 percent, in keeping with inflation rates.

Bill sponsor Sen. Leonidas P. Raptakis, D-Coventry, said the idea is to make increases more predictable and “less political.”

As the process now works, each year Rhode Islanders must wait for lawmakers to decide whether to raise the state’s minimum wage. If a proposal makes it through the sometimes arduous committee and floor-vote process, the question then becomes, will the governor veto the measure?

By mandating automatic increases and tying them to an established standard — the consumer price index for the Northeast — the bill would remove the uncertainties that linger on Smith Hill each session, Raptakis says. Capping the increases at 3 percent means the state could also ensure that rates don’t increase too fast.

“In my lifetime I don’t think there’s ever been a time that the wage earner has been more pressed with rising prices and costs that are crippling families financially,” said Sen. Daniel J. Issa, D-Cumberland, the only legislator besides Raptakis who spoke about the bill yesterday. “This is an excellent idea because it provides some consistency from year to year. It does not subject these increases to political whims and the power of lobbyists.”

Rhode Island already pays among the highest minimum wage rates in the nation, at $7.40 an hour. As of Jan. 1, only seven other states had higher minimum wages, including Massachusetts at $8 an hour and Connecticut at $7.65 an hour.

“If this legislation passes, Rhode Island’s new minimum wage on Jan. 1, 2009, will be $7.60,” Raptakis said. It will continue to rise each year from there.

The proposal now heads to a House committee, where it will likely receive a hearing in the coming days. House lawmakers have not indicated whether they support the Raptakis plan.

A Carcieri spokesman has said the governor is concerned about this and any bill that adds to the cost of doing business in Rhode Island. “As the state and the nation grapple with the economic slowdown combined with skyrocketing energy prices, the governor believes we should be making Rhode Island more, not less, business-friendly,” spokesman Jeff Neal said.

In Connecticut last month, Gov. M. Jodi Rell, a Republican, vetoed legislation that would have raised that state’s minimum wage from $7.65 to $8 beginning Jan.1, 2009, and to $8.25 starting Jan. 1, 2010, according to a news release.

During his tenure, Carcieri has let one minimum-wage hike take effect without his signature early in his administration, and vetoed another, in 2005. Lawmakers did not try and override his veto that year.

— With reports from Katherine Gregg of the Journal State House Bureau

cneedham@projo.com