109 HR 5731 IH: Living American Wage (LAW) Act of U.S. House of Representatives 2006-06-29 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I 109th CONGRESS 2d Session H. R. 5731 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. Becerra, 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. Loretta Sanchez of California, Mr. Cleaver, Ms. Linda T. Sánchez 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) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce A BILL 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.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Living American Wage (LAW) Act of 2006.

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 poverty 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.

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 section, not less than $5.15 an hour beginning September 1, 1997, and not less than the amount determined by the Secretary under subsection (b) beginning January 1, 2007; ; and (2)by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c) and inserting after subsection (a) the following: (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 Secretary shall publish such wage rate in the Federal Register not later than October 1 of each year. If such determination 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 Secretary 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 income 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. .