[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1887 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1887

    To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for an 
increase in the minimum wage and protect the rights of States that have 
                    adopted State minimum wage laws.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            November 9, 1999

   Mr. Enzi introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
  referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for an 
increase in the minimum wage and protect the rights of States that have 
                    adopted State 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 WAGES AND AREA STANDARDS.

    (a) In General.--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) State Minimum Wages.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
        this section and sections 13(a) and 14, an employer in a State 
        that has adopted minimum wage legislation that meets the 
        requirements of paragraph (2) shall pay to each of its 
        employees a wage at a rate that is not less than the rate 
        provided for in such State's minimum wage legislation.
            ``(2) Requirement.--This section and sections 13(a) and 14 
        shall only apply in such States that have adopted minimum wage 
        legislation that sets wages for at least 95 percent of the 
        workers within the State at an hourly rate that is not less 
        than 85 percent of the hourly rate generally applicable for the 
        year involved under subsection (a).
            ``(3) Emergency circumstances.--The chief executive officer 
        of a State, through an executive order (or its equivalent), may 
        set wages applicable to at least 95 percent of the employees 
        within the State (or particular county of the State) at an 
        hourly rate that is not less than 85 percent of the hourly rate 
        generally applicable for the year involved under subsection (a) 
        if any of the following circumstances exist:
                    ``(A) The State welfare-to-work programs would be 
                sufficiently harmed by mandating a minimum wage rate 
                above an hourly rate equal to 85 percent of the hourly 
                rate required under subsection (a).
                    ``(B) The State (or county) is experiencing a 
                period of high unemployment.
                    ``(C) The State (or county) is experiencing a 
                period of slow economic growth.
        This paragraph shall only apply to an executive order (or its 
        equivalent) that is effective for a period of 12 months or 
        less.''.
    (b) Applicability of Minimum Wage to the Territories.--
Notwithstanding section 5 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (29 U.S.C. 
205), the provisions of section 6 of such Act (29 U.S.C. 206) shall 
apply to the territories and possessions of the United States 
(including the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands) in the 
same manner as such provisions apply to the States.
    (c) Effective Date.--
            (1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2), the 
        amendments made by this section shall take effect on April 1, 
        2000.
            (2) Exception for certain states.--In the case of a State 
        which the Secretary of Labor identifies as having a legislature 
        which is not scheduled to meet prior to the effective date 
        described in paragraph (1) in a legislative session, the date 
        specified in such paragraph shall be the first day of the first 
        calendar quarter beginning after the close of the first 
        legislative session of the State legislature that begins on or 
        after such effective date, and in which a State law described 
        in section 6(h)(2) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (as 
        added by subsection (a)) may be considered. For purposes of the 
        previous sentence, in the case of a State that has a 2-year 
        legislative session, each year of such session shall be deemed 
        to be a separate regular session of the State legislature.
                                 <all>