By Thompson, Burnam                                    H.B. No. 327
         76R2415 CMR-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 Sections
 1-7     62.055 and 62.057, an [An] employer shall pay to each employee the
 1-8     federal minimum wage under Section 6, Fair Labor Standards Act of
 1-9     1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 206) [not less than $3.35 an hour, except
1-10     as provided by Sections 62.055 and 62.057].
1-11           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
1-12           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
1-13     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
1-14     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
1-15     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
1-16     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.
1-17                          COMMITTEE AMENDMENT NO. 1
1-18     Amend H.B. 327 as follows:
1-19           (1)  On page 1, line 11, following Section 1 of the bill,
1-20     insert a new subsection (2) to read as follows and renumber the
1-21     subsequent sections appropriately:
1-22           SECTION 2.  Section 62.052(a), Labor Code, is amended as
1-23     follows:
1-24           Sec. 62.052.  TIPPED EMPLOYEES.  (a)  In determining the wage
 2-1     of a tipped employee, the amount paid the employee by the employer
 2-2     is the federal wage as defined under the Fair Labor Standards Act
 2-3     of 1938 (29 U.S.C. Section 203(m)) [considered to be increased
 2-4     because of tips by an amount determined by the employer but that
 2-5     does not exceed 50 percent of the applicable minimum wage rate].
 2-6                                                                    Luna