Paying Hourly Americans Stronger Earnings (PHASE) in $15 Wage Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2080 To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for a Federal, cost-of-living based minimum wage, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 4, 2019 Ms. SEWELL of Alabama (for herself, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. HOULAHAN, Mr. PETERS, Mr. CUELLAR, Mr. BERA, Ms. SPANBERGER, Ms. KENDRA S. HORN of Oklahoma, Mr. PHILLIPS, Mr. SCHRADER, Mr. GONZALEZ of Texas, Ms. SLOTKIN, and Miss RICE of New York) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor A BILL To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to provide for a Federal, cost-of-living based minimum wage, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Paying Hourly Ameri- 4 cans Stronger Earnings (PHASE) in $15 Wage Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2080.IH H2080 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2080 IH SEC. 2. COST-OF-LIVING BASED MINIMUM WAGE. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 6(a)(1) of the Fair Labor 2 Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(a)(1)) is amended 3 to read as follows: 4 ‘‘(1) except as otherwise provided in this sec- 5 tion, not less than the amount determined by the 6 Secretary under subsection (h) for the metropolitan 7 statistical area or the nonmetropolitan portion in 8 which the employer resides;’’. 9 (b) DETERMINATION OF REGIONAL MINIMUM 10 WAGE.—Section 6 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 11 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206) is amended by adding at the end 12 the following: 13 ‘‘(h) DETERMINATION OF MINIMUM WAGE.— 14 ‘‘(1)(A) On the effective date of the Paying 15 Hourly Americans Stronger Earnings (PHASE) in 16 $15 Wage Act, the wage determined under this 17 paragraph for a metropolitan statistical area or non- 18 metropolitan portion shall be equal to the result ob- 19 tained— 20 ‘‘(i) by multiplying— 21 ‘‘(I) 40 percent of the national aver- 22 age hourly wage of private sector, non-su- 23 pervisory workers (as reported by the Bu- 24 reau of Labor Statistics of the Department 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2080.IH H2080 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2080 IH of Labor for the most recent month for 1 which data are available); by 2 ‘‘(II) the adjustment percentage speci- 3 fied in paragraph (2) for the area or por- 4 tion; and 5 ‘‘(ii) by rounding the result obtained under 6 clause (i) to the nearest tenth of a dollar. 7 ‘‘(B) Not later than 1 year after such effective 8 date, subparagraph (A)(i)(I) shall be applied by sub- 9 stituting ‘45 percent’ for ‘40 percent’. 10 ‘‘(C) Not later than 2 years after such effective 11 date, subparagraph (A)(i)(I) shall be applied by sub- 12 stituting ‘50 percent’ for ‘40 percent’. 13 ‘‘(D) Not later than 5 years after such effective 14 date, and for each 3-year period thereafter, the wage 15 determined under this paragraph for a metropolitan 16 statistical area or nonmetropolitan portion shall be 17 equal to the greater of— 18 ‘‘(i) the result obtained under subpara- 19 graph (C); or 20 ‘‘(ii) the wage determined under this para- 21 graph for such area or portion for the preceding 22 three-year period. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2080.IH H2080 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2080 IH ‘‘(2) The adjustment percentage specified in 1 this paragraph for a metropolitan statistical area or 2 nonmetropolitan portion shall be— 3 ‘‘(A) 87.5 percent, for a metropolitan sta- 4 tistical area or nonmetropolitan portion with a 5 regional price parity of less than 90; 6 ‘‘(B) 92.5 percent, for a metropolitan sta- 7 tistical area or nonmetropolitan portion with a 8 regional price parity of less than 95, but not 9 less than 90; 10 ‘‘(C) 100 percent, for a metropolitan sta- 11 tistical area or nonmetropolitan portion with a 12 regional price parity of less than 105, but not 13 less than 95; 14 ‘‘(D) 107.5 percent, for a metropolitan sta- 15 tistical area or nonmetropolitan portion with a 16 regional price parity of less than 110, but not 17 less than 105; and 18 ‘‘(E) 115 percent, for a metropolitan sta- 19 tistical area or nonmetropolitan portion with a 20 regional price parity of not less than 110. 21 ‘‘(3) In this subsection: 22 ‘‘(A) The term ‘metropolitan statistical 23 area’ means a geographic area, defined by the 24 Office of Management and Budget for statis- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2080.IH H2080 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2080 IH tical purposes, containing a large population 1 nucleus and adjacent communities having a 2 high degree of social and economic integration 3 with that nucleus. 4 ‘‘(B) The term ‘nonmetropolitan portion’ 5 means any county (or portion thereof) which is 6 not within a metropolitan statistical area. All 7 nonmetropolitan portions of a State shall be 8 treated, in aggregate, as a single nonmetropoli- 9 tan portion for the State. 10 ‘‘(C) The term ‘regional price parity’ 11 means the regional price parity for a metropoli- 12 tan statistical area or nonmetropolitan portion 13 determined by the Bureau of Economic Anal- 14 ysis of the Department of Commerce for the 15 most recent year for which data are available. 16 In determining regional price parities for pur- 17 poses of this subsection, the Bureau of Eco- 18 nomic Analysis shall use the same methodology 19 used to determine such parities for the most re- 20 cent year for which such parities were reported 21 by the Bureau before the date of the enactment 22 of this subsection.’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2080.IH H2080 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2080 IH SEC. 3. REPEAL OF SEPARATE MINIMUM WAGE FOR TIPPED 1 EMPLOYEES. 2 Subparagraph (A) of section 3(m)(2) of the Fair 3 Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203(m)(2)) is 4 amended to read as follows: ‘‘(A) The wage required to 5 be paid to a tipped employee shall be the wage set forth 6 in section 6(a)(1).’’. 7 SEC. 4. REPEAL OF SEPARATE MINIMUM WAGE FOR NEWLY 8 HIRED EMPLOYEES WHO ARE LESS THAN 20 9 YEARS OLD. 10 Section 6(g)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 11 1938 (29 U.S.C. 206(g)(1)) is repealed. 12 SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. 13 The amendments and repeals made by this Act shall 14 take effect on the first day of the third month that begins 15 after the date of the enactment of this Act. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:27 Apr 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H2080.IH H2080 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS