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AI Summary This summary was generated by AI from the bill text. AI can get information wrong.
This bill raises the federal minimum wage in stages from 2026 through 2030 and then sets a new method for updating it every seven years. The scheduled increases reach $26.59 an hour on January 1, 2030. Starting January 1, 2031, the Labor Department must set the wage so that a full-time worker (1,799 hours per year) earns an annual income equal to 40% above the federal supplemental poverty threshold for a renting family of four with two children. The bill explains why higher wages are needed by citing poverty, high housing costs, and independent living-wage research, says wages should be reviewed when inflation is high, and makes clear states and local governments can raise wages further. It also prevents the federal minimum from dropping if the formula would produce a lower number.
Planned federal wage increases: $10.59/hour on Jan 1, 2026; $14.59 on Jan 1, 2027; $18.59 on Jan 1, 2028; $22.59 on Jan 1, 2029; $26.59 on Jan 1, 2030; and a new, formula-based rate starting Jan 1, 2031.
How future rates are set: every 7 years the Secretary must set a rate so someone working 1,799 hours a year earns 40% more than the federal supplemental poverty threshold for a renting family of four with two children (the bill cites the federal statistics agency); the Secretary must publish the rate and may not lower the wage if the formula gives a smaller amount.
Why and when to adjust: the bill lists findings about poverty, housing affordability, and living-wage research and states (as guidance) that wages should be adjusted when inflation rises 5% or more over two consecutive years, though that statement is a nonbinding “sense of Congress.”
Other points: it preserves the right of states, DC, territories, tribes, and local governments to set higher minimum wages than the federal level.
Official Summaries
Original Living American Wage Act or the Original LAW Act
This bill increases the federal minimum wage according to a formula specified in the bill.
First, the bill increases the minimum hourly wage to $10.59 beginning on January 1, 2026, and increases the minimum hourly wage by $4 annually from January 1, 2027, through January 1, 2030.
Next, beginning on January 1, 2031, the Department of Labor shall increase the minimum hourly wage every seven years according to a specified formula.
The formula establishes the minimum hourly wage as the wage sufficient for a person working 1,799 hours per year (approximately 35 hours per week) to earn an annual income that is 40% higher than the federal supplemental poverty threshold for a renter family of four, with two children under the age of 18, as published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the preceding year. However, if this formula results in a reduction, the minimum hourly wage may not be lowered.
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 122 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 122
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide for the calculation of
the minimum wage based on the Federal supplemental poverty threshold
for a renter family of 4, with 2 children under the age of 18, as
determined by the Bureau of the Census, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 3, 2025
Mr. Green of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Education and Workforce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to provide for the calculation of
the minimum wage based on the Federal supplemental poverty threshold
for a renter family of 4, with 2 children under the age of 18, as
determined by the Bureau of the Census, and for other purposes.
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 ``Original Living American Wage Act''
or the ``Original LAW Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.
(a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
(1) In 2022, there were approximately 37,900,000 Americans
living in poverty who were denied access to opportunities due
to income, housing, education, jobs, and health care.
(2) A full-time worker earning the Federal minimum wage
earns an income that is just $20 above the Federal poverty line
for a single-person household and $5,360 below the poverty line
for a two-person household.
(3) The average fair market rent for a 1-bedroom apartment
is more than 110 percent of the monthly income of a full-time
worker earning the minimum wage. In comparison, the generally
accepted definition of affordability is for a household to pay
not more than 30 percent of its income on housing.
(4) Two full-time workers earning the Federal minimum wage
earn an income below the national housing wage, which is the
amount a person must earn to afford a 1-bedroom apartment for
the average rental price without spending more than 30 percent
of their income.
(5) In 2023, data from the Living Wage Calculator of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology indicated that the median
average living wage across single adults and single adults with
one child spanning all 50 States was $26.59 per hour or
approximately $48,154.49 annually.
(b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the Federal minimum wage should, at a minimum, be
adjusted any time that inflation rises to 5 percent or above
over 2 consecutive years so that a wage earner's annual income
will be not less than 40 percent above the Supplemental Poverty
Threshold for a renting family of 4, as determined by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics;
(2) the minimum wage should be set at a level high enough
to allow 2 full-time minimum wage workers to earn an income
above the national housing wage; and
(3) Congress, any of the several States, the District of
Columbia, any territory or possession of the United States, any
Indian tribe, or any local or municipal government of a State
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 (29 U.S.C. 206)
is amended--
(1) in subsection (a)(1)--
(A) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph
(B); and
(B) by inserting at the end the following:
``(D) $10.59 an hour, beginning January 1, 2026;
``(E) $14.59 an hour, beginning January 1, 2027;
``(F) $18.59 an hour, beginning January 1, 2028;
``(G) $22.59 an hour, beginning January 1, 2029;
``(H) $26.59 an hour, beginning January 1, 2030;
and
``(I) the amount determined by the Secretary under
subsection (b), beginning January 1, 2031.''; and
(2) by redesignating subsection (b) as subsection (c) and
inserting after subsection (a) the following:
``(b)(1) Subject to paragraph (3), not later than October 1, 2030,
and every 7 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 November 1 of each year in which
a minimum wage rate is determined under this paragraph.
``(2) For the 7-year period beginning on January 1, 2031, and each
succeeding 7-year period, the minimum wage rate determined by the
Secretary under paragraph (1) shall be a minimum hourly wage sufficient
for a person working for such wage for 1,799 hours per year to earn an
annual income in an amount that is 40 percent higher than the Federal
supplemental poverty threshold for a renter family of 4, with two
children under the age of 18, as published by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics for the year preceding the year in which the wage rate is
being so determined.
``(3) If the minimum wage rate determined by the Secretary under
paragraph (1) would result in a lower minimum wage rate than the
minimum wage rate in effect at the time of such determination, the
Secretary may not adjust the minimum wage rate so in effect.''.
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