A University of Massachusetts economist testifies about the tremendous potential of a ballot proposal increasing Florida's minimum wage to raise wages and grow the economy: Boosting the minimum wage in Florida by a buck could put several hundred dollars more in the wallets of thousands of workers while costing consumers just pennies, an economist said Thursday. "A $10 meal at a restaurant ... would be $10.10," Robert Pollin told a dozen Florida analysts...The minimum wage proposal would create a state minimum wage of $6.15 - $1 higher than the federal minimum wage - and require annual increases to cover inflation. ...To reach voters, sponsors of the two proposals must get nearly half a million signatures verified by Aug. 3 and persuade the state Supreme Court that their provisions deal with a single subject and are fairly explained in ballot title and summary. The wage amendment, which is backed by the advocacy group ACORN, has nearly 116,000 signatures. Although frequently cautioning that his research wasn't complete, Pollin predicted that Florida's economy would be able to absorb the slight increase in costs caused by the proposal without layoffs. The impact will be greater in some sectors, such as the hotel and restaurant industry, he said. However, even there the effect won't be great enough to change consumer behavior, he said. Essentially, Pollin said, "low-wage workers (will be) getting a $500 wage increase at the expense of consumers spending 10 cents more when to go to the restaurant." Those workers, in turn, are exactly the ones who (unlike Bush Campaign donors) are more likely to increase their spending habits with an increase in income. This ballot initiative is also crucial as a means of bringing low-income voters to the polls in November, a cause I'll be setting off on Sunday to work on under the auspices of 2004ward in Tampa.