AUGUSTA (AP) – The Maine House of Representatives narrowly gave all-but-final approval Wednesday to a two-step increase of 50 cents in the state minimum wage.

Backed by Gov. John Baldacci, the proposed boost would lift the state minimum of $6.50 to $6.75 this October and to $7 in October 2007.

The House endorsement vote was 76-74, and a pending tally in the Senate could also be close.

The House vote broke down generally along party lines. Democrats argued that the lowest-paid workers deserve a break, while Republicans warned that moving farther beyond the federal minimum of $5.15 would put Maine businesses at a competitive disadvantage.

“It gives a chance to our poor,” said Rep. William Smith, D-Van Buren, the House chairman of the Labor Committee.

Smith suggested that lawmakers should counteract income disparities that he said are widening, and that raising the minimum wage could reduce the reliance of the needy on government aid programs.

But Rep. Jonathan McKane, R-New Castle, dismissed the measure as “feel-good legislation” that would add “one more brick in that load” being borne by Maine businesses.

A Labor Department fact sheet said 17 states had minimum wage rates higher than the federal standard as of Jan. 1, including all of the New England states except New Hampshire.

Pay at the federal minimum provides $10,712 annually for a person working 40 hours each week.

In New Hampshire, several attempts to raise it have been defeated, most recently last May when the Senate rejected an effort to raise it to $6.15 per hour.

The initial vote in the Maine House on Wednesday was 79-71 in favor, but the margin shrank within minutes when a second vote was taken.

Some supporters took the occasion to urge consideration of a higher “livable wage.” Green Rep. John Eder of Portland, for one, said the increase being proposed was nothing to brag about.

“It’s pathetic … It’s not enough,” he said.

Congress last increased the federal minimum wage in 1997.

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On the Net:

Maine Department of Labor: www.maine.gov/labor

AP-ES-02-08-06 1538EST