A measure that phases out D.C.’s two-tiered minimum wage could reappear on the ballot in 2022.

D.C.’s Board of Elections advanced a ballot initiative Thursday morning that calls to eliminate what’s known as the tip credit — the portion of a worker’s base pay that is covered by tips instead of employer-paid wages — and require employers to pay the full minimum wage themselves.

Backers of the initiative must now gather roughly 26,000 valid signatures by March to get it on D.C.’s Democratic primary ballot in June 2022.

Supporters of the effort say mandating employers to pay a greater share of tipped workers’ wages will provide more income stability to employees who rely on customers’ tips, which can vary depending on the number of guests in an establishment, food and drink prices, and other factors beyond workers’ control.

Dia King, a valet driver who testified in support of the measure in a virtual public hearing held by the Board of Elections, said the tipped system has always been unfair, but COVID-19 brought the issue to the forefront.

“The pandemic made a bad situation worse,” King said.

In 2018, D.C. voters approved an almost identical measure: Initiative 77. Four months later, the D.C. Council overturned it 8-5, egged on by the restaurant industry and other employers that would have been required to pay higher base wages to tipped workers under the law. A former restaurant employee who now works for the national advocacy group One Fair Wage refiled the initiative in June.

The D.C. Board of Elections agreed this morning that the revived effort constitutes “proper subject matter” for the ballot, a procedural step that clears the way for organizers to begin gathering petition signatures. D.C.’s Chief Financial Officer must also file a fiscal impact statement for the measure by Sept. 17, after which the board is expected to hold another public hearing to adopt ballot language for the initiative.

Restaurant owners say eliminating the tipped wage is unnecessary, because if tips fall short of the regular minimum wage — currently $15.20, more than three times the $5.05 tipped wage — employers are required to make up the difference. But supporters of eliminating the subminimum wage counter that employers don’t always follow the rules, either willfully or because they don’t keep close track of cash tips coming in.

“The math behind this can be overly convoluted and rarely does it work in the workers’ benefit,” said Julian Johnson, a restaurant worker who testified during Thursday’s hearing.

In 2018, Farmers Restaurant Group settled a class action filed by workers who accused the company of underpaying tipped workers. Labor advocates pointed to the settlement as evidence that wage theft is more common in tipped industries than the public may realize. In the settlement, Farmers Restaurant Group denied wrongdoing.

One Fair Wage, which supports ending the two-tier minimum wage nationwide, argues that a consistent minimum wage that isn’t supplemented by cash tips would cut back on wage theft and provide pay transparency.

D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson led opposition to Initiative 77 in 2018, saying its wording on the ballot misled voters. The initiative was also opposed vociferously by some restaurant and bar workers, who believed it would upend the industry and discourage customers from tipping at all.

No one testified against the measure in today’s hearing, though if supporters collect enough signatures to get it on the primary ballot, it’s likely to spur another messaging war between labor advocates and the restaurant industry, in a repeat of 2018.