Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB122 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
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 supplemental poverty thresh-
7	7	old for a renter family of 4, with 2 children under the age of 18,
8	8	as determined by the Bureau of the Census, and for other purposes.
9	9	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
10	10	JANUARY3, 2025
11	11	Mr. G
12	12	REENof Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
13	13	Committee on Education and Workforce
14	14	A BILL
15	15	To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide for
16	16	the calculation of the minimum wage based on the Fed-
17	17	eral supplemental poverty threshold for a renter family
18	18	of 4, with 2 children under the age of 18, as determined
19	19	by the Bureau of the Census, and for other purposes.
20	20	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
21	21	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
22	22	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
23	23	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Original Living Amer-4
24	24	ican Wage Act’’ or the ‘‘Original LAW Act’’. 5
25	25	SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6
26	26	(a) F
27	27	INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7
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30	30	•HR 122 IH
31	31	(1) In 2022, there were approximately 1
32	32	37,900,000 Americans living in poverty who were 2
33	33	denied access to opportunities due to income, hous-3
34	34	ing, education, jobs, and health care. 4
35	35	(2) A full-time worker earning the Federal min-5
36	36	imum wage earns an income that is just $20 above 6
37	37	the Federal poverty line for a single-person house-7
38	38	hold and $5,360 below the poverty line for a two- 8
39	39	person household. 9
40	40	(3) The average fair market rent for a 1-bed-10
41	41	room apartment is more than 110 percent of the 11
42	42	monthly income of a full-time worker earning the 12
43	43	minimum wage. In comparison, the generally accept-13
44	44	ed definition of affordability is for a household to 14
45	45	pay not more than 30 percent of its income on hous-15
46	46	ing. 16
47	47	(4) Two full-time workers earning the Federal 17
48	48	minimum wage earn an income below the national 18
49	49	housing wage, which is the amount a person must 19
50	50	earn to afford a 1-bedroom apartment for the aver-20
51	51	age rental price without spending more than 30 per-21
52	52	cent of their income. 22
53	53	(5) In 2023, data from the Living Wage Calcu-23
54	54	lator of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 24
55	55	indicated that the median average living wage across 25
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58	58	•HR 122 IH
59	59	single adults and single adults with one child span-1
60	60	ning all 50 States was $26.59 per hour or approxi-2
61	61	mately $48,154.49 annually. 3
62	62	(b) S
63	63	ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-4
64	64	gress that— 5
65	65	(1) the Federal minimum wage should, at a 6
66	66	minimum, be adjusted any time that inflation rises 7
67	67	to 5 percent or above over 2 consecutive years so 8
68	68	that a wage earner’s annual income will be not less 9
69	69	than 40 percent above the Supplemental Poverty 10
70	70	Threshold for a renting family of 4, as determined 11
71	71	by the Bureau of Labor Statistics; 12
72	72	(2) the minimum wage should be set at a level 13
73	73	high enough to allow 2 full-time minimum wage 14
74	74	workers to earn an income above the national hous-15
75	75	ing wage; and 16
76	76	(3) Congress, any of the several States, the Dis-17
77	77	trict of Columbia, any territory or possession of the 18
78	78	United States, any Indian tribe, or any local or mu-19
79	79	nicipal government of a State may establish a higher 20
80	80	minimum wage requirement than that established in 21
81	81	this Act. 22
82	82	SEC. 3. MINIMUM WAGE. 23
83	83	Section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 24
84	84	(29 U.S.C. 206) is amended— 25
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87	87	•HR 122 IH
88	88	(1) in subsection (a)(1)— 1
89	89	(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub-2
90	90	paragraph (B); and 3
91	91	(B) by inserting at the end the following: 4
92	92	‘‘(D) $10.59 an hour, beginning January 5
93	93	1, 2026; 6
94	94	‘‘(E) $14.59 an hour, beginning January 7
95	95	1, 2027; 8
96	96	‘‘(F) $18.59 an hour, beginning January 9
97	97	1, 2028; 10
98	98	‘‘(G) $22.59 an hour, beginning January 11
99	99	1, 2029; 12
100	100	‘‘(H) $26.59 an hour, beginning January 13
101	101	1, 2030; and 14
102	102	‘‘(I) the amount determined by the Sec-15
103	103	retary under subsection (b), beginning January 16
104	104	1, 2031.’’; and 17
105	105	(2) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub-18
106	106	section (c) and inserting after subsection (a) the fol-19
107	107	lowing: 20
108	108	‘‘(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (3), not later than Oc-21
109	109	tober 1, 2030, and every 7 years thereafter, the Secretary 22
110	110	shall determine the minimum wage rate applicable under 23
111	111	subsection (a)(1) based on the formula described in para-24
112	112	graph (2). The Secretary shall publish such wage rate in 25
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115	115	•HR 122 IH
116	116	the Federal Register not later than November 1 of each 1
117	117	year in which a minimum wage rate is determined under 2
118	118	this paragraph. 3
119	119	‘‘(2) For the 7-year period beginning on January 1, 4
120	120	2031, and each succeeding 7-year period, the minimum 5
121	121	wage rate determined by the Secretary under paragraph 6
122	122	(1) shall be a minimum hourly wage sufficient for a person 7
123	123	working for such wage for 1,799 hours per year to earn 8
124	124	an annual income in an amount that is 40 percent higher 9
125	125	than the Federal supplemental poverty threshold for a 10
126	126	renter family of 4, with two children under the age of 18, 11
127	127	as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the 12
128	128	year preceding the year in which the wage rate is being 13
129	129	so determined. 14
130	130	‘‘(3) If the minimum wage rate determined by the 15
131	131	Secretary under paragraph (1) would result in a lower 16
132	132	minimum wage rate than the minimum wage rate in effect 17
133	133	at the time of such determination, the Secretary may not 18
134	134	adjust the minimum wage rate so in effect.’’. 19
135	135	Æ
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