Joanna Gatmaitan

States Rights Summary

States rights is the power allocated to the state alone and is sovereign from the
federal government on some extent. States rights is designed to protect its
constituents rights and the Governor who leads the state, acts for the best interest of its
people, however, States rights is not superior than the Federal government. If there is a
clash or a conflict between a states law and federal law, usually the Federal
government will win.

A good example to discuss how the state laws and federal laws affect each other
is the topic of the minimum wage. According to Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), As of
July 24, 2009, Federal Minimum wage is at $7.50 per hour. While there is a federal
minimum wage, states could have a higher or lower minimum wage. In California, the
governor recently signed SB 3 that would gradually increase the minimum wage to $15
by 2023. In this scenario, the states minimum wage is higher than the Federal minimum
wage.

California is known as one the most expensive states to live in the United States
and $7.50 minimum wage is simply not sufficient enough. This a good example wherein
the state took action to protect its people making sure that they earn enough to cope
with the cost of living in California. In some other states like Georgia, state minimum
wage ($5.15 per hour) which is lower than the federal government. In the event that the
states minimum wage is lower than the minimum wage of the Federal government,
states law is superseded by the Federal law. In this scenario, federal law is more
beneficial to the people that resides Georgia. Federal government ensures that the state
do not take its power for granted and that the law is still within reason.

Citation
"SB-3 Minimum wage: in-home supportive services: paid sick days." California Legislative
Information. April 04, 2016. Accessed July 18, 2017.
http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB3.

"Wage and Hour Division." United States Department of Labor. Accessed July 20, 2017.
https://www.dol.gov/whd/minimumwage.htm.

"Minimum Wage Laws in the States- July 01, 2017." United States Department of Labor. Accessed
July 20, 2017. https://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm.