I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 122
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide for the calculation
of the minimum wage based on the Federal supplemental poverty thresh-
old for a renter family of 4, with 2 children under the age of 18,
as determined by the Bureau of the Census, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. G
REENof Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and Workforce
A BILL
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide for
the calculation of the minimum wage based on the Fed-
eral supplemental poverty threshold for a renter family
of 4, with 2 children under the age of 18, as determined
by the Bureau of the Census, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Original Living Amer-4
ican Wage Act’’ or the ‘‘Original LAW Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7
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(1) In 2022, there were approximately 1
37,900,000 Americans living in poverty who were 2
denied access to opportunities due to income, hous-3
ing, education, jobs, and health care. 4
(2) A full-time worker earning the Federal min-5
imum wage earns an income that is just $20 above 6
the Federal poverty line for a single-person house-7
hold and $5,360 below the poverty line for a two- 8
person household. 9
(3) The average fair market rent for a 1-bed-10
room apartment is more than 110 percent of the 11
monthly income of a full-time worker earning the 12
minimum wage. In comparison, the generally accept-13
ed definition of affordability is for a household to 14
pay not more than 30 percent of its income on hous-15
ing. 16
(4) Two full-time workers earning the Federal 17
minimum wage earn an income below the national 18
housing wage, which is the amount a person must 19
earn to afford a 1-bedroom apartment for the aver-20
age rental price without spending more than 30 per-21
cent of their income. 22
(5) In 2023, data from the Living Wage Calcu-23
lator of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 24
indicated that the median average living wage across 25
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single adults and single adults with one child span-1
ning all 50 States was $26.59 per hour or approxi-2
mately $48,154.49 annually. 3
(b) S
ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-4
gress that— 5
(1) the Federal minimum wage should, at a 6
minimum, be adjusted any time that inflation rises 7
to 5 percent or above over 2 consecutive years so 8
that a wage earner’s annual income will be not less 9
than 40 percent above the Supplemental Poverty 10
Threshold for a renting family of 4, as determined 11
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics; 12
(2) the minimum wage should be set at a level 13
high enough to allow 2 full-time minimum wage 14
workers to earn an income above the national hous-15
ing wage; and 16
(3) Congress, any of the several States, the Dis-17
trict of Columbia, any territory or possession of the 18
United States, any Indian tribe, or any local or mu-19
nicipal government of a State may establish a higher 20
minimum wage requirement than that established in 21
this Act. 22
SEC. 3. MINIMUM WAGE. 23
Section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 24
(29 U.S.C. 206) is amended— 25
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(1) in subsection (a)(1)— 1
(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub-2
paragraph (B); and 3
(B) by inserting at the end the following: 4
‘‘(D) $10.59 an hour, beginning January 5
1, 2026; 6
‘‘(E) $14.59 an hour, beginning January 7
1, 2027; 8
‘‘(F) $18.59 an hour, beginning January 9
1, 2028; 10
‘‘(G) $22.59 an hour, beginning January 11
1, 2029; 12
‘‘(H) $26.59 an hour, beginning January 13
1, 2030; and 14
‘‘(I) the amount determined by the Sec-15
retary under subsection (b), beginning January 16
1, 2031.’’; and 17
(2) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub-18
section (c) and inserting after subsection (a) the fol-19
lowing: 20
‘‘(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (3), not later than Oc-21
tober 1, 2030, and every 7 years thereafter, the Secretary 22
shall determine the minimum wage rate applicable under 23
subsection (a)(1) based on the formula described in para-24
graph (2). The Secretary shall publish such wage rate in 25
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the Federal Register not later than November 1 of each 1
year in which a minimum wage rate is determined under 2
this paragraph. 3
‘‘(2) For the 7-year period beginning on January 1, 4
2031, and each succeeding 7-year period, the minimum 5
wage rate determined by the Secretary under paragraph 6
(1) shall be a minimum hourly wage sufficient for a person 7
working for such wage for 1,799 hours per year to earn 8
an annual income in an amount that is 40 percent higher 9
than the Federal supplemental poverty threshold for a 10
renter family of 4, with two children under the age of 18, 11
as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the 12
year preceding the year in which the wage rate is being 13
so determined. 14
‘‘(3) If the minimum wage rate determined by the 15
Secretary under paragraph (1) would result in a lower 16
minimum wage rate than the minimum wage rate in effect 17
at the time of such determination, the Secretary may not 18
adjust the minimum wage rate so in effect.’’. 19
Æ
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