[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7374 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7374

To provide consequences to States that reduce their State minimum wage 
   and to redirects Federal funding to those States to the neediest 
                              localities.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 20, 2018

 Ms. Jones of Michigan (for herself and Mrs. Lawrence) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
   the Workforce, and in addition to the Committees on Oversight and 
     Government Reform, and Financial Services, for a period to be 
subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 
  of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
                               concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide consequences to States that reduce their State minimum wage 
   and to redirects Federal funding to those States to the neediest 
                              localities.

    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 Fairness Act of 2018''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Federal minimum wage peaked 50 years ago in 1968 at 
        $8.68 in 2016 dollars. Since that time, Americans have watched 
        their wages remain stagnant despite massive increases in 
        productivity, which has fueled an economically unfair and 
        unjust trend for the Nation. The growing income inequality has 
        been a destabilizing force on the communities of the Nation, 
        the economy, and the Nation's very democracy.
            (2) The Federal minimum wage does not only affect the young 
        and inexperienced worker. More than half of all minimum wage 
        workers are over the age of 24.
            (3) Nearly 60 percent of States have raised their minimum 
        wage above the Federal minimum wage, and in nearly 25 percent 
        of States the wage is adjusted yearly for inflation.
            (4) Opponents of minimum wage increases routinely use dire 
        predictions about job losses and the failure of businesses in 
        locations that raise the minimum wage. These predictions have 
        proven almost entirely untrue. Locations that raise the minimum 
        wage largely reap the benefits of a stronger tax base and 
        increased consumer demand.
            (5) Those opposed to minimum wage increases frequently use 
        more than misleading campaigns, and in some cases have 
        interfered with democracy to ensure that the will of citizens 
        is frustrated.
            (6) Americans deserve a raise and the voters and 
        constituents who support minimum wage increases should not be 
        frustrated by anti-democratic special interests who have 
        captured the legislative, executive, and regulatory apparatus 
        of States and localities.

SEC. 3. SAFEGUARDS FOR WORKERS IN STATES THAT REDUCE THE MINIMUM WAGE.

    (a) Review of Minimum Wage Laws.--The Secretary of Labor shall, 
within 30 days of the each fiscal year beginning after the date of 
enactment of this Act, identify any State that has, within the previous 
fiscal year that began after the date of enactment of this Act, reduced 
its State minimum wage, or which has reduced a minimum wage increase 
that would otherwise go into effect.
    (b) Communication of Minimum Wage Reduction.--The Secretary of 
Labor shall inform all other Federal agencies responsible for 
allocating Federal funds to a State for its direct use or for the State 
to distribute within its boundaries, of any State that has reduced its 
State minimum wage.
    (c) Review of Indirect Costs.--Any head of an agency notified that 
a State has reduced its State minimum wage shall review all funds under 
programs administered by the head of such agency that would otherwise 
be allocated to a State under Federal law. Such agency head shall then 
review any funds allocated to that State specifically designated as for 
use for the State's administrative costs of any such program. Where 
such administrative costs are not specifically designated, the agency 
head shall--
            (1) determine the amount of such Federal funds used by the 
        State to administer any such program; and
            (2) presume in the absence of a contrary showing, that a 
        similar amount or percentage will be allocated by the State in 
        the next fiscal year.
    (d) Reduction in Indirect Costs.--Upon determining the percentage 
of Federal funding under a given program provided to a State that is 
used for administrative costs, the head of each agency shall restrict 
the use of funds by the State for administrative costs, overhead, and 
salaries for the following year. Such a restriction shall reduce the 
amount the State may spend on administrative costs by a percentage 
equivalent to the State's reduction in its State minimum wage.
    (e) Exceptions.--Where the head of an agency has determined that a 
reduction in program funding for administrative costs to a State shall 
constitute a threat to the public health, safety, and welfare of the 
people of the State, then the head of such agency may withhold from the 
State for administrative costs a lesser amount than that equivalent to 
the percentage of the State's minimum wage reduction.
    (f) Redirection of Funds.--Where possible, the head of each such 
agency shall direct any funds withheld from a State under this Act to a 
municipality located in that State where the municipality is an 
eligible recipient of the funding program in question, and where the 
municipality would be otherwise eligible to use such funds for 
administrative costs. Where no such municipality is eligible to 
directly receive such funds, such funds shall be available to the 
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for use only for grants 
under title I of the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 (42 
U.S.C. 5301 et seq.) for metropolitan cities and urban counties in such 
State that were eligible to receive grants under such title in the most 
recent fiscal year for which such grants were made. The amount of the 
funds allocated pursuant to this subsection for each such metropolitan 
city or urban county in the State shall bear the same ratio to the 
total amount of funds for the State allocated under this subsection as 
the amount of funds awarded to such city or county under section 106 of 
such Act for such most recent fiscal year bears to the total amount of 
funds awarded to all metropolitan cities and urban counties in such 
State under such section 106 for such most recent fiscal year.
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