Living American Wage (LAW) Act of 2006

Living American Wage (LAW) Act of 2006 - Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) the federal minimum wage should be adjusted every four years so that a person earning such wage may earn an annual income of not less than 112% of the federal poverty threshold; and (2) Congress or the states may establish higher minimum wage requirements than that established in this Act.

Amends the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to revise calculation of the federal minimum wage to be not less than $5.15 an hour beginning September 1, 1997, and not less than the minimum hourly wage sufficient for a person to earn an annual income that is 12% higher than the federal poverty threshold for a two person household, with one child under age 18 years of age, beginning January 1, 2007.

[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5731 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5731

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.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    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. 
   Sanchez 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.

    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 ``Living American Wage (LAW) Act of 
2006''.

SEC. 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.

SEC. 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.''.
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