A coalition led by statewide labor groups recently filed an initiative to push the minimum wage to $13.50 an hour and allow workers to earn paid sick leave.

The effort could be one of the biggest election battles this year. As proposed, the minimum hourly wage would climb to $11 in 2017, $11.50 in 2018, $12 in 2019 and $13.50 in 2020. The measure would not prevent cities or counties from paying a higher wage — as is already the case in Seattle and Tacoma.

The measure also requires workers be allowed to earn one hour of paid leave for every 40 hours they work. Supporters of the initiative contend a healthy and better paid workforce will benefit the state’s economy without triggering any job loss.

Among those advocating for the effort is Jane Teske, a registered nurse who works in the newborn intensive care unit at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett.

Although she has sick leave benefits, Teske said she and co-workers are not encouraged to take it. And while she has a good wage, she knows many workers in the state do not.

Voters last considered the minimum wage in 1998. That year they passed Initiative 688 to provide annual cost-of-living adjustments based on increases in the federal Consumer Price Index. Washington’s current minimum wage is $9.47 an hour, a figure unchanged from 2015 because the Consumer Price Index did not rise.

For many years, this state has had the nation’s highest minimum wage. But that changed Jan. 1 when the rate climbed to $10 an hour in California and Massachusetts, $9.75 in Alaska and $9.60 in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Vermont, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. To qualify for the November ballot, the coalition will need to turn in 246,372 valid signatures of registered Washington voters by July 8.

Political reporter Jerry Cornfield’s blog, The Petri Dish, can be read on www.heraldnet.com.