Requires the commissioner of labor to prepare an annual report on the cost of living, poverty rates and adequacy of the current minimum wage in the state.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6646
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 3, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sen. RAMOS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Labor
AN ACT to amend the labor law, in relation to requiring the commissioner
of labor to prepare an annual report on the cost of living, poverty
rates and adequacy of the current minimum wage in the state
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 21 of the labor law is amended by adding a new
2 subdivision 16 to read as follows:
3 16. Shall prepare and submit to the governor, the temporary president
4 of the senate, the speaker of the assembly and the chairs of the senate
5 and assembly committees on labor on or before the thirtieth day of
6 September an annual report on the state's cost of living, poverty rates,
7 and the adequacy of the current minimum wage. The report shall analyze
8 the change in living costs using the various available and widely
9 consulted cost of living measures, including but not limited to the MIT
10 living wage calculator, the EPI family budget calculator, and the
11 University of Washington self-sufficiency standard. The report shall
12 also analyze changes in poverty and child poverty for households that
13 include one or more workers, using American Community Survey data for
14 the latest available year. Such analysis shall examine changes in the
15 specified measures for each year since December thirty-first, two thou-
16 sand eighteen, disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, age, disability
17 status, household size, profession and education level for each of four
18 regions of the state, which shall be defined as: the city of New York;
19 the suburban counties of Westchester, Suffolk and Nassau; the Hudson
20 Valley counties of Rockland, Putnam, Orange, Ulster, Greene, Dutchess,
21 Columbia, Albany, and Rensselaer; and the counties of the remainder of
22 the state. The report shall also compare the current and projected
23 future value of the state's upstate minimum wage with the minimum wages
24 in other high-cost states, including but not limited to Washington,
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11116-02-3
S. 6646 2
1 California and Hawaii, and compare the current and projected future
2 value of the state's minimum wage in the city of New York, and the coun-
3 ties of Westchester, Nassau and Suffolk with the minimum wages in other
4 high-cost cities, including but not limited to Seattle, San Francisco,
5 Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Denver. The commissioner may include
6 in the report such other analysis as they find useful in assessing the
7 adequacy of the state's minimum wage. In preparing the report and deter-
8 mining its methodology, the commissioner shall consult with a three-per-
9 son advisory committee, the members of which shall consist of one
10 appointee each by the governor, the temporary president of the senate,
11 and the speaker of the assembly.
12 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
