Bill Text: TX HCR21 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-11 - Referred to International Relations & Economic Development [HCR21 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HCR21-Introduced.html
87R6360 CW-D | ||
By: Reynolds | H.C.R. No. 21 |
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WHEREAS, Federal law sets the federal minimum wage at $7.25 | ||
an hour; and | ||
WHEREAS, The last time Congress raised the federal minimum | ||
wage was in 2007; that year, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 was | ||
passed to gradually raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 an | ||
hour to $7.25 an hour in 2009; the Act included small business tax | ||
relief provisions and was signed into law by President George W. | ||
Bush; and | ||
WHEREAS, Speaking at a 2006 news conference, President Bush | ||
said that he supported increasing the federal minimum wage, adding | ||
that to achieve this and other goals, Congress needed to put aside | ||
partisan differences and work constructively to address the vital | ||
issues confronting our nation; and | ||
WHEREAS, In the 13 years since President Bush signed the last | ||
federal minimum wage increase into law, the desire for Congress to | ||
put aside partisan differences and work constructively to raise the | ||
federal minimum wage has grown stronger in the states; and | ||
WHEREAS, To account for cost of living increases, 29 states | ||
have set their minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage, | ||
though not at the level of a living wage; 14 states, including | ||
Texas, have set their minimum wage in line with the federal minimum | ||
wage; and | ||
WHEREAS, Supporters of a living wage emphasize that | ||
increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour would reduce | ||
poverty and grow the economy; their review of previous minimum wage | ||
increases found little or no evidence that raising the minimum wage | ||
reduces employment; and | ||
WHEREAS, Demonstrating that paying workers more reduces | ||
turnover, several companies, including Amazon, Walmart, and | ||
Target, are now paying many hourly workers at least $15 an hour; a | ||
2017 Quinnipiac University poll found that a majority of Americans | ||
would support a minimum wage of $15 an hour; and | ||
WHEREAS, Offering a Texas perspective, noted American | ||
economist Dr. James K. Galbraith, a professor at The University of | ||
Texas at Austin, wrote that states such as Texas would benefit from | ||
raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour because such states | ||
have too many low-wage workers, too much poverty, and too many | ||
people who are getting food stamps and other welfare because they | ||
aren't getting paid enough; and | ||
WHEREAS, The well-being of this nation depends on a strong | ||
and vibrant economy, and Congress should heed the advice of experts | ||
such as Dr. Galbraith and raise the minimum wage; now, therefore, | ||
be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 87th Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby respectfully urge the Congress of the United States to raise | ||
the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour; and, be it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, and to all the | ||
members of the Texas delegation to Congress with the request that | ||
this resolution be entered in the Congressional Record as a | ||
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America. |