By Rodriguez                                     H.B. No. 294

      75R2505 PB-D                           

                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

 1-1                                   AN ACT

 1-2     relating to the minimum wage.

 1-3           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

 1-4           SECTION 1.  Section 62.051, Labor Code, is amended to read as

 1-5     follows:

 1-6           Sec. 62.051.  MINIMUM WAGE.  Except as provided by Section

 1-7     62.057, an [An] employer shall pay to each employee not less than

 1-8     the greater of:

 1-9                 (1)  $5.15 [$3.35] an hour; or

1-10                 (2)  the current federal minimum wage under Section 6,

1-11     Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Sec. 206)[, except as

1-12     provided by Sections 62.055 and 62.057].

1-13           SECTION 2.  Sections 62.055 and 62.056, Labor Code, are

1-14     repealed.

1-15           SECTION 3.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.

1-16           SECTION 4.  The importance of this legislation and the

1-17     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-18     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-19     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-20     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.