Bill Text: TX HB396 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relating to the state minimum wage, including adjustments based on the consumer price index and authorization for a county or municipality to establish a local minimum wage.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-04-07 - Left pending in committee [HB396 Detail]

Download: Texas-2015-HB396-Introduced.html

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84R2345 MAW-D
By: McClendon H.B. No. 396

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the state minimum wage, including adjustments based on
the consumer price index and authorization for a county or
municipality to establish a local minimum wage.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 62.051, Labor Code, is amended to read as
follows:
Sec. 62.051. MINIMUM WAGE. (a) In this section:
(1) "Adjusted minimum wage" means the minimum wage as
calculated under Subsection (d).
(2) "Consumer price index" means the Consumer Price
Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W),
published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the United States
Department of Labor.
(b) This section applies only to wages paid to an employee
who is subject to the minimum wage provisions of the Fair Labor
Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 201 et seq.).
(c) Except as provided by Sections 62.052 and [Section]
62.057, an employer shall pay to each employee not less than the
greater of:
(1) the adjusted minimum wage; or
(2) the federal minimum wage under Section 6, Fair
Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 206).
(c-1) This subsection applies to wages paid by an employer
for the 2016 and 2017 calendar years. Subsection (c) does not apply
in a year to which this subsection applies. Except as provided by
Sections 62.052 and 62.057:
(1) for the 2016 calendar year, an employer shall pay
to each employee not less than the greater of:
(A) $8.75 an hour; or
(B) the federal minimum wage under Section 6,
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 206); and
(2) for the 2017 calendar year, an employer shall pay
to each employee not less than the greater of:
(A) $10.10 an hour; or
(B) the federal minimum wage under Section 6,
Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 206).
(c-2) Subsection (c-1) and this subsection expire January
1, 2018.
(d) Not later than September 30 of each year, the commission
shall calculate, to the nearest cent, the adjusted minimum wage to
be paid for the next calendar year, if applicable, by increasing the
adjusted minimum wage for that calendar year by the percentage
increase, if any, in the consumer price index, for the 12-month
period that ends on August 31 preceding the calculation.
(e) The adjusted minimum wage may not be decreased under
this section on the basis of any decrease in the consumer price
index.
(f) A reference in this code or another law to the minimum
wage established by state law means the adjusted minimum wage.
SECTION 2. Section 62.0515, Labor Code, is amended to read
as follows:
Sec. 62.0515. [APPLICATION OF] MINIMUM WAGE ESTABLISHED BY
[TO] CERTAIN GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES; CERTAIN AGREEMENTS WITH
GOVERNMENTAL ENTITIES. (a) A municipality may adopt a minimum wage
that is greater than the minimum wage established by Section 62.051
to be paid by an employer to each employee for services performed in
the municipality. A county may adopt a minimum wage that is greater
than the minimum wage established by Section 62.051 to be paid by an
employer to each employee for services performed in the
unincorporated areas of the county, including areas located within
the extraterritorial jurisdiction of a municipality. [Except as
otherwise provided by this section, the minimum wage provided by
this chapter supersedes a wage established in an ordinance, order,
or charter provision governing wages in private employment, other
than wages under a public contract.]
(b) [This section does not apply to any state or federal job
training or workforce development program.
[(c) This section does not apply to a minimum wage
established by a governmental entity that applies to a contract or
agreement, including a non-annexation agreement, entered into by a
governmental entity and a private entity.] A private entity that
enters into a contract or agreement, including a non-annexation
agreement, with a governmental entity, under the terms of which the
private entity agrees to comply with a minimum wage that is greater
than the minimum wage established by Section 62.051 or, if
applicable, Subsection (a) of this section [the governmental
entity], is subject to the terms of that contract or agreement, and
those terms apply to and may be enforced against a general
contractor, subcontractor, developer, and other person with which
the private entity contracts in order to comply with the provisions
of the original contract or agreement.
[(d)] For purposes of this subsection [section],
"governmental entity" includes a municipality, a county, a special
district or authority, a junior college district, or another
political subdivision of this state.
SECTION 3. Subchapter D, Chapter 62, Labor Code, is amended
by adding Section 62.162 to read as follows:
Sec. 62.162. CERTAIN SMALL BUSINESSES. An employer that
employs fewer than 26 employees is exempt from this chapter.
SECTION 4. Section 62.151, Labor Code, is repealed.
SECTION 5. Not later than September 30, 2017, the Texas
Workforce Commission shall determine the first increase in the
adjusted minimum wage, if any, as required by Section 62.051(d),
Labor Code, as added by this Act. For purposes of that computation,
the adjusted minimum wage for the 2017 calendar year is $10.10 an
hour.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect January 1, 2016.