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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 122 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                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 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.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 3, 2025

Mr. Green of 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 Federal 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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Original Living American Wage Act'' 
or the ``Original LAW Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) In 2022, there were approximately 37,900,000 Americans 
        living in poverty who were denied access to opportunities due 
        to income, housing, education, jobs, and health care.
            (2) A full-time worker earning the Federal minimum wage 
        earns an income that is just $20 above the Federal poverty line 
        for a single-person household and $5,360 below the poverty line 
        for a two-person household.
            (3) The average fair market rent for a 1-bedroom apartment 
        is more than 110 percent of the monthly income of a full-time 
        worker earning the minimum wage. In comparison, the generally 
        accepted definition of affordability is for a household to pay 
        not more than 30 percent of its income on housing.
            (4) Two full-time workers earning the Federal minimum wage 
        earn an income below the national housing wage, which is the 
        amount a person must earn to afford a 1-bedroom apartment for 
        the average rental price without spending more than 30 percent 
        of their income.
            (5) In 2023, data from the Living Wage Calculator of the 
        Massachusetts Institute of Technology indicated that the median 
        average living wage across single adults and single adults with 
        one child spanning all 50 States was $26.59 per hour or 
        approximately $48,154.49 annually.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the Federal minimum wage should, at a minimum, be 
        adjusted any time that inflation rises to 5 percent or above 
        over 2 consecutive years so that a wage earner's annual income 
        will be not less than 40 percent above the Supplemental Poverty 
        Threshold for a renting family of 4, as determined by the 
        Bureau of Labor Statistics;
            (2) the minimum wage should be set at a level high enough 
        to allow 2 full-time minimum wage workers to earn an income 
        above the national housing wage; and
            (3) Congress, any of the several States, the District of 
        Columbia, any territory or possession of the United States, any 
        Indian tribe, or any local or municipal government of a State 
        may establish a higher minimum wage requirement than that 
        established in this Act.

SEC. 3. MINIMUM WAGE.

    Section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206) 
is amended--
            (1) in subsection (a)(1)--
                    (A) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph 
                (B); and
                    (B) by inserting at the end the following:
                    ``(D) $10.59 an hour, beginning January 1, 2026;
                    ``(E) $14.59 an hour, beginning January 1, 2027;
                    ``(F) $18.59 an hour, beginning January 1, 2028;
                    ``(G) $22.59 an hour, beginning January 1, 2029;
                    ``(H) $26.59 an hour, beginning January 1, 2030; 
                and
                    ``(I) the amount determined by the Secretary under 
                subsection (b), beginning January 1, 2031.''; and
            (2) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c) and 
        inserting after subsection (a) the following:
    ``(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (3), not later than October 1, 2030, 
and every 7 years thereafter, the Secretary shall determine the minimum 
wage rate applicable under subsection (a)(1) based on the formula 
described in paragraph (2). The Secretary shall publish such wage rate 
in the Federal Register not later than November 1 of each year in which 
a minimum wage rate is determined under this paragraph.
    ``(2) For the 7-year period beginning on January 1, 2031, and each 
succeeding 7-year period, the minimum wage rate determined by the 
Secretary under paragraph (1) shall be a minimum hourly wage sufficient 
for a person working for such wage for 1,799 hours per year to earn an 
annual income in an amount that is 40 percent higher than the Federal 
supplemental poverty threshold for a renter family of 4, with two 
children under the age of 18, as published by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics for the year preceding the year in which the wage rate is 
being so determined.
    ``(3) If the minimum wage rate determined by the Secretary under 
paragraph (1) would result in a lower minimum wage rate than the 
minimum wage rate in effect at the time of such determination, the 
Secretary may not adjust the minimum wage rate so in effect.''.
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