Original Living Wage Act
Bill: H.R.122 | Sponsor: Rep. Green, Al (D-TX)
Policy area: Labor and Employment

Summary:
Original Living Wage Act
This bill increases the federal minimum wage to the minimum hourly wage sufficient for a person working for 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, to earn an annual income 25.5% higher than the federal poverty threshold for a four-person household, with two children under age 18, and living in the 48 contiguous states. (Under current poverty thresholds, the national minimum wage would be set at approximately $15.64 per hour.)
The Department of Labor must determine the minimum wage rate by June 1, 2021, and review it every four years. Labor may not adjust the minimum wage to a lower rate.

To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide for the calculation of 
the minimum wage based on the Federal poverty threshold for a family of 
             4, as determined by the Bureau of the Census.

    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 Wage Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) In 2015, there were approximately 43,100,000 Americans 
        living in poverty who were separated from the opportunities of 
        the Nation by their income, their housing, and their access to 
        education, jobs, and health care.
            (2) A full-time worker earning the Federal minimum wage 
        earns an income below the Federal poverty threshold for a 
        family of 4, consisting of 2 adults and 2 children.
            (3) The average fair market rent for a 1-bedroom apartment 
        is more than 65 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 for a 1-bedroom 
        apartment, the amount a person needs to earn to afford a 1-
        bedroom apartment at average rent.
    (b) 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 25.5 percent 
        higher than the Federal poverty threshold for a family of 4, as 
        determined by the Bureau of the Census;
            (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);
                    (B) by inserting ``and'' at the end of subparagraph 
                (C); and
                    (C) by inserting at the end the following:
                    ``(D) the amount determined by the Secretary under 
                subsection (b), beginning September 1, 2021;''; and
            (2) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c) and 
        inserting after subsection (a) the following:
    ``(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (2), not later than June 1, 2021, 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 (3). The Secretary shall publish such 
wage rate in the Federal Register not later than October 1 of each 
year.
    ``(2) 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.
    ``(3) The minimum wage rate determined by the Secretary under 
paragraph (1) shall be the minimum hourly wage sufficient for a person 
working for such wage for 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year, to earn 
an annual income in an amount that is 25.5 percent higher than the 
Federal poverty threshold for a family of 4, with two children under 
the age of 18, and living in any of the 48 contiguous States, as 
published by the Bureau of the Census for the year in which the wage 
rate is being so determined.''.
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