Lawmakers Thursday held a public hearing in Hartford on whether minimum wage workers in Connecticut should be paid $15 per hour.

Similar laws have already been slated to take effect in cities like New York and Washington, D.C.

Two bills would take effect gradually between now and 2022, while Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposal would take one year longer.  Lamont’s plan would also allow a lower wage for young workers.

Some small business groups argue they are already taxed enough, and the plan to increase minimum wage could actually make lower-wage jobs disappear. 

But at Garden Catering in Stamford, manager David Posadas, says he thinks the deli chain could absorb the extra money.

"Our whole priority would be to balance out our service and our food costs.  So that way, we'd be—even though we're increasing our wage, we'd still be able to provide great service, great pricing for our guests," Posadas says.

Democrats in Connecticut have been trying to push a minimum wage hike for the past few years, and there are a lot more of them in the legislature this year.

Gov. Ned Lamont has stated a minimum wage hike as being one of his top priorities.