BILL REQ. #:  H-3611.1 

Read first time 01/16/12.   Referred to Committee on Labor & Workforce Development.

     AN ACT Relating to suspending the adjustment of the minimum hourly wage rate during periods of high unemployment; and amending RCW 49.46.020.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

Sec. 1   RCW 49.46.020 and 1999 c 1 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:
     (1) ((Until January 1, 1999, every employer shall pay to each of his or her employees who has reached the age of eighteen years wages at a rate of not less than four dollars and ninety cents per hour.
     (2) Beginning January 1, 1999, and until January 1, 2000, every employer shall pay to each of his or her employees who has reached the age of eighteen years wages at a rate of not less than five dollars and seventy cents per hour.
     (3))) Beginning January 1, 2000, and until January 1, 2001, every employer shall pay to each of his or her employees who has reached the age of eighteen years wages at a rate of not less than six dollars and fifty cents per hour.
     (((4))) (2)(a) Except as provided in (c) of this subsection, beginning on January 1, 2001, and each following January 1st as set forth under (b) of this subsection, every employer shall pay to each of his or her employees who has reached the age of eighteen years wages at a rate of not less than the amount established under (b) of this subsection.
     (b) On September 30, 2000, and on each following September 30th, the department of labor and industries shall calculate an adjusted minimum wage rate to maintain employee purchasing power by increasing the current year's minimum wage rate by the rate of inflation. The adjusted minimum wage rate shall be calculated to the nearest cent using the consumer price index for urban wage earners and clerical workers, CPI-W, or a successor index, for the twelve months prior to each September 1st as calculated by the United States department of labor. Each adjusted minimum wage rate calculated under this subsection (((4))) (2)(b) takes effect on the following January 1st.
     (((5))) (c) The requirements of (a) and (b) of this subsection are suspended when the average rate of unemployment in the state, seasonally adjusted, as determined by the United States secretary of labor, for the twelve-month period prior to each September 1st equals or exceeds seven and one-half percent. Under these circumstances, every employer shall pay each of his or her employees who has reached the age of eighteen years wages at a rate of not less than the minimum wage rate from the previous year.
     (3) The director shall by ((regulation)) rule establish the minimum wage for employees under the age of eighteen years.