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on September 19, 2012 at 10:22 AM, updated September 19, 2012 at 3:51 PM

TRENTON — Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver said she’s willing to consider other options to getting a minimum wage hike done but said Senate Democrats should first send her bill to the governor’s desk.

Democratic leaders kicked off the legislative session in January by declaring a minimum wage hike a top priority, arguing that the current rate of $7.25 an hour was insufficient in a high-cost state like New Jersey.

The Assembly passed a bill that increased the rate to $8.50 and established automatic increases down the road tied to inflation, but the bill has stalled in the Senate, despite state Senate President Stephen Sweeney’s public support.

Now, Senate Democrats are weighing several options that would water down and delay the immediate increase, including putting the issue to voters next fall and stripping the bill of the flat $1 increase while preserving the inflation adjustments.

“I remain open to all possibilities to get a minimum wage increase accomplished, but at this moment I believe sending the Gov. Christie the bill should be a priority.,” Oliver (D-Essex) said in a statement.

Oliver issued the statement Tuesday, the same day Sweeney (D-Gloucester) issued a video where he appeared to endorse a minimum wage hike. The video features graphics and images of Sweeney sitting down at the kitchen table with middle class families.

In the video, he says he has spoken to families trying to survive on minimum wage, and they said “it’s impossible.” He then went on to say the current minimum wage is “woefully inadequate” and a “complete failure.”

Sweeney emphasized the need for the future wage hikes to be tied to inflation, but does not endorse the flat $1 hike in the video.

A spokesman for Sweeney, Chris Donnelly, would not say whether or not Sweeney supports a flat $1 hike or explain why Sweeney has not acted on a bill that he appears to support.

“The video highlights the Senate President's belief that a raise in the minimum wage should be tied to the (Consumer Price Index). He looks forward to working on this issue over the fall.” Donnelly said.

If the hike was based solely on inflation and did not include a flat hike of $1, the minimum wage would only increase by about 15 cents an hour.

Donnelly declined to answer questions about how that modest increase would improve the lives of families who Sweeney says are living under “impossible” situations.

The minimum wage issue is setting up to be the fall's most likely political clash, and the latest between Assembly and Senate Democrats.

Among other things, several Democratic lawmakers in the lower house are puzzled how leadership decided the agenda, and then failed to get it through a Legislature they control.