HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) Connecticut is moving closer to increasing the state's minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2017.

The Democratic controlled Senate voted 21-14 in favor of the legislation, immediately sending it to the House of Representatives for an expected vote on Wednesday.

Senate President Donald Williams called the bill ``a modest step forward'' to help those who have the least.

But Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, who is running for governor, said businesses cannot afford the proposed increase and jobs would be lost.

An estimated 70,000 to 90,000 people in Connecticut earn the minimum wage of $8.70.

If $10.10 is enacted, as expected, the National Employment Law Project says Connecticut would be the first state to raise the wage to $10.10, the same rate President Barack Obama wants for the federal minimum wage.