NORTH DAKOTA (KXNET) — Improving the quality of living is a big priority for some lawmakers as they make the push to bring high minimum wage levels to North Dakota. The state, which does not have a state minimum wage, operates off of the federal minimum wage, which is currently set to $7.25 and has been that way since 2009. While many jobs around the state do offer much higher wages, State House Representative LaurieBeth Hager says that $7 is not a livable wage and that it needs to change. "$15,000 a year that's what they would be living on if they worked all 52 weeks, every one of those 40 hours, you would be living on $15,000 a year. Here in Fargo, you can't get rent for most places for $1,000 a month, and so that is not a sustainable amount for families for individuals to be living on and it keeps people at poverty," said Rep. Hager. Representative Hager says that she has tried and failed multiple times to bring legislation to the forefront to increase wage levels, but says she takes into account many different things. First District Health educates community on use of Narcan in OD situations "So for the last two sessions, I've sponsored bills to increase that. I'm taking a conservative approach in my mind, being mindful of the business owners and business workers in our state, while ideally, $15 an hour is more of a living wage for a family or a person, I've been looking at the $9-10 area," said Rep. Hager. However, Rep. Hager says that she wants the people of North Dakota to have more of a say on this issue. "I'm going to be trying a new approach and sponsoring a bill to have the citizens of our state on a referred measure to put it on the ballot so the people of our state can determine and make the changes. It been very effective in other states," said Rep. Hager. "Well, according to the wage and the cost of things, you can't make it work and I don't understand how young people are gonna survive, especially if they have kids, it's impossible," said Minot resident, Elmer Kondell. The North Dakota State Legislature will be in session for 80 days. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Today's Top Stories SIGN UP NOW