Casey Seiler is reporting at Capitol Confidential Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Mon., Jan. 2, that news of the state’s newly enacted minimum wage will be boosted by a task force that will both educate businesses and enforce the law. The state’s minimum wage is now $9.70 upstate; $10 on Long Island and in Westchester County; and $11 in New York City. The governor said the state would seek to sanction employers whose wage violations are willful or egregious, and not merely the product of ignorance or error. “This is a transition period,” Cuomo said. Upstate workers will see their hour rate increase to $12.50 at the end of 2020. Cuomo said an estimated 730,000 minimum wage workers will benefit from the series of increases, with 250,000 of them raised above the poverty line by the added income. Read the full story at Capitol Confidential, a Times Union blog.