Maryland's minimum wage is rising to $11 an hour.
The increase from $10.10 is one of the state's new laws taking effect Wednesday.
The minimum wage for companies with 15 or more employees will have future increases over the next several years and is set to reach $15 in 2025. The wage for companies with 14 or fewer employees will also go up to $11 Wednesday. Companies with 14 or fewer employees will be required to pay $15 an hour in 2026.
Another new law taking effect Wednesday requires authorities to test rape kits, which are swabs and samples collected in sex assault cases that can provide DNA evidence. Lawmakers also set aside $3.5 million to help local police departments pay to test them.
In Montgomery County, Maryland's most populous county, the Law Enforcement Trust and Transparency Act is going into effect. The law requires all police-involved deaths to be investigated by an outside law enforcement agency.
