History Of Creating A Federal Minimum Wage Tuesday, October 13, 2015 | Sacramento, CA Listen / download audio Update RequiredTo play audio, update browser or Flash plugin. Around the country communities are weighing proposals to raise the local minimum wage to reflect rising costs of living. In Sacramento, city leaders proposed a $12.50 per hour minimum wage and it stirred up controversy on both sides saying it’s too high or not high enough. We’ll talk with UC Davis historian Eric Rauchway about the origins of President Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation that created the federal minimum wage .