Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB122 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 122
5	5	To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide for the calculation
6	6	of the minimum wage based on the Federal poverty threshold for a
7	7	family of 4, as determined by the Bureau of the Census.
8	8	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
9	9	JANUARY9, 2023
10	10	Mr. G
11	11	REENof Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
12	12	Committee on Education and the Workforce
13	13	A BILL
14	14	To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide for
15	15	the calculation of the minimum wage based on the Fed-
16	16	eral poverty threshold for a family of 4, as determined
17	17	by the Bureau of the Census.
18	18	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
19	19	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
20	20	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
21	21	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Original Living Wage 4
22	22	Act’’. 5
23	23	SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6
24	24	(a) F
25	25	INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7
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29	29	(1) In 2015, there were approximately 1
30	30	43,100,000 Americans living in poverty who were 2
31	31	separated from the opportunities of the Nation by 3
32	32	their income, their housing, and their access to edu-4
33	33	cation, jobs, and health care. 5
34	34	(2) A full-time worker earning the Federal min-6
35	35	imum wage earns an income below the Federal pov-7
36	36	erty threshold for a family of 4, consisting of 2 8
37	37	adults and 2 children. 9
38	38	(3) The average fair market rent for a 1-bed-10
39	39	room apartment is more than 65 percent of the 11
40	40	monthly income of a full-time worker earning the 12
41	41	minimum wage. In comparison, the generally accept-13
42	42	ed definition of affordability is for a household to 14
43	43	pay not more than 30 percent of its income on hous-15
44	44	ing. 16
45	45	(4) Two full-time workers earning the Federal 17
46	46	minimum wage earn an income below the national 18
47	47	housing wage for a 1-bedroom apartment, the 19
48	48	amount a person needs to earn to afford a 1-bed-20
49	49	room apartment at average rent. 21
50	50	(b) S
51	51	ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-22
52	52	gress that— 23
53	53	(1) the Federal minimum wage should, as a 24
54	54	minimum, be adjusted every 4 years so that a person 25
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57	57	•HR 122 IH
58	58	working for such a wage may earn an annual income 1
59	59	that is not less than 25.5 percent higher than the 2
60	60	Federal poverty threshold for a family of 4, as deter-3
61	61	mined by the Bureau of the Census; 4
62	62	(2) the minimum wage should be set at a level 5
63	63	high enough to allow 2 full-time minimum wage 6
64	64	workers to earn an income above the national hous-7
65	65	ing wage; and 8
66	66	(3) Congress, any of the several States, the Dis-9
67	67	trict of Columbia, any territory or possession of the 10
68	68	United States, any Indian tribe, or any local or mu-11
69	69	nicipal government of a State may establish a higher 12
70	70	minimum wage requirement than that established in 13
71	71	this Act. 14
72	72	SEC. 3. MINIMUM WAGE. 15
73	73	Section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 16
74	74	(29 U.S.C. 206) is amended— 17
75	75	(1) in subsection (a)(1)— 18
76	76	(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub-19
77	77	paragraph (B); 20
78	78	(B) by inserting ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub-21
79	79	paragraph (C); and 22
80	80	(C) by inserting at the end the following: 23
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83	83	•HR 122 IH
84	84	‘‘(D) the amount determined by the Sec-1
85	85	retary under subsection (b), beginning Sep-2
86	86	tember 1, 2023;’’; and 3
87	87	(2) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub-4
88	88	section (c) and inserting after subsection (a) the fol-5
89	89	lowing: 6
90	90	‘‘(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), not later than June 7
91	91	1, 2023, and once every 4 years thereafter, the Secretary 8
92	92	shall determine the minimum wage rate applicable under 9
93	93	subsection (a)(1) based on the formula described in para-10
94	94	graph (3). The Secretary shall publish such wage rate in 11
95	95	the Federal Register not later than October 1 of each year. 12
96	96	‘‘(2) If the minimum wage rate determined by the 13
97	97	Secretary under paragraph (1) would result in a lower 14
98	98	minimum wage rate than the minimum wage rate in effect 15
99	99	at the time of such determination, the Secretary may not 16
100	100	adjust the minimum wage rate so in effect. 17
101	101	‘‘(3) The minimum wage rate determined by the Sec-18
102	102	retary under paragraph (1) shall be the minimum hourly 19
103	103	wage sufficient for a person working for such wage for 20
104	104	40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, to earn an annual 21
105	105	income in an amount that is 25.5 percent higher than the 22
106	106	Federal poverty threshold for a family of 4, with two chil-23
107	107	dren under the age of 18, and living in any of the 48 con-24
108	108	tiguous States, as published by the Bureau of the Census 25
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111	111	•HR 122 IH
112	112	for the year in which the wage rate is being so deter-1
113	113	mined.’’. 2
114	114	Æ
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