By Maxey                                         H.B. No. 334

      75R3003 PB-F                           

                                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.  SHORT TITLE.  This Act may be cited as the

 1-5     "Minimum Wage Amendments of 1997."

 1-6           SECTION 2.  INCREASE IN MINIMUM WAGE.  Section 62.051, Labor

 1-7     Code, is amended to read as follows:

 1-8           Sec. 62.051.  MINIMUM WAGE.  Except as provided by Section

 1-9     62.057, an [An] employer shall pay to each employee not less than

1-10     the greater of:

1-11                 (1)  $6.50 [$3.35] an hour; or

1-12                 (2)  the current federal minimum wage under Section 6,

1-13     Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 206)[, except

1-14     as provided by Sections 62.055 and 62.057].

1-15           SECTION 3.  REPEALER.  Sections 62.055, 62.056, and 62.151,

1-16     Labor Code, are repealed.

1-17           SECTION 4.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act takes effect September

1-18     1, 1997.

1-19           SECTION 5.  EMERGENCY.  The importance of this legislation

1-20     and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an

1-21     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the

1-22     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several

1-23     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.