I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5731 
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide for the calculation 
of the minimum wage based on the Federal poverty guidelines published 
by the Department of Health and Human Services. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 29, 2006 
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas (for himself, Mr. WATT, Mr. HONDA, Mrs. 
NAPOLITANO, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. PASTOR, Ms. 
EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. BACA, Mr. REYES, Mr. BECER-
RA, Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. WYNN, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, 
Ms. LEE, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. 
BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. 
MEEKS of New York, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of 
Texas, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. CLAY, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. CORRINE 
BROWN of Florida, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mr. OWENS, Ms. LO-
RETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. CLEAVER, Ms. LINDA T. SA´NCHEZ 
of California, Ms. SOLIS, Mr. HINOJOSA, Mr. GONZALEZ, Ms. WATSON, 
Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. 
THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. 
DAVIS of Alabama, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. CONYERS, and Mr. CLYBURN) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Edu-
cation and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide for 
the calculation of the minimum wage based on the Fed-
eral poverty guidelines published by the Department of 
Health and Human Services. 
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Living American Wage 
(LAW) Act of 2006’’. 
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the Federal minimum wage should, as a 
minimum, be adjusted every 4 years so that a person 
working for such a wage may earn an annual income 
that is not less than 112 percent of the Federal pov-
erty threshold, as determined by the Census Bureau; 
and 
(2) Congress or any of the several States 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 
is amended— 
(1) by amending subsection (a)(1) to read as 
follows: 
‘‘(1) except as otherwise provided in this sec-
tion, not less than $5.15 an hour beginning Sep-
tember 1, 1997, and not less than the amount deter-
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mined by the Secretary under subsection (b) begin-
ning January 1, 2007;’’; and 
(2) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub-
section (c) and inserting after subsection (a) the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(b)(1) Not later than September 1, 2006, and once 
every 4 years thereafter, the Secretary shall determine the 
minimum wage rate applicable under subsection (a)(1) 
based on the formula described in paragraph (2). The Sec-
retary shall publish such wage rate in the Federal Register 
not later than October 1 of each year. If such determina-
tion results in a lower minimum wage than that then in 
effect, the Secretary shall not adjust the minimum wage 
then in effect pursuant to this subsection. 
‘‘(2) The minimum wage rate determined by the Sec-
retary under paragraph (1) shall be the minimum hourly 
wage sufficient for a person working for such wage 40 
hours per week, 52 weeks per year, to earn an annual in-
come in an amount that is 12 percent higher than the 
Federal poverty threshold for a two person household, 
with one person a child under age 18, and living in the 
48 contiguous States, as published for each such year by 
the Census Bureau.’’. 
Æ 
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