[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2928 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2928

 To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide an exemption 
            to States which adopt certain minimum wage laws.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 23, 1999

  Mr. DeMint (for himself and Mr. Stenholm) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the 
                               Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide an exemption 
            to States which adopt certain minimum wage laws.

    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 ``Minimum Wage State Flexibility Act 
of 1999.''.

SEC. 2. STATE MINIMUM WAGE.

    Section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(h)(1) An employer in a State that adopts minimum wage 
legislation that conforms to the requirement of paragraph (2) shall not 
be required to pay its employees at the minimum wage prescribed by 
subsection (a)(1).
    ``(2) Paragraph (1) shall apply in a State that adopts minimum wage 
legislation that--
            ``(A) sets a rate that is not less than $5.15 an hour; and
            ``(B) applies that rate to not fewer than the employees 
        performing work within the State that would otherwise be 
        covered by the minimum wage rate prescribed by subsection 
        (a)(1).
    ``(3) An increase in the minimum wage rate prescribed by subsection 
(a)(1), that is enacted contemporaneous or subsequent to the Minimum 
Wage State Flexibility Act of 1999, shall go into effect the first day 
of the first calendar quarter beginning after the first legislative 
session of the State legislature in which a State law described in 
paragraph (2) may be considered.
    ``(4) Except as may be provided in State law, a Governor of a State 
may suspend for a period of up to one year minimum wage rates in effect 
in the State under subsection (a)(1) which exceed $5.15 an hour for all 
or part of the State because--
            ``(A) the State is unable to achieve work participation 
        rates or other responsibilities under the Personal 
        Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996;
            ``(B) all or part of the State has experienced an increased 
        rate of unemployment; or
            ``(C) the State experienced an economic slowdown as 
        measured by the gross State product.''.
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