1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Minimum Wage Fairness Act of 2018 . 2. Findings The Congress finds the following: (1) The Federal minimum wage peaked 50 years ago in 1968 at $8.68 in 2016 dollars. Since that time, Americans have watched their wages remain stagnant despite massive increases in productivity, which has fueled an economically unfair and unjust trend for the Nation. The growing income inequality has been a destabilizing force on the communities of the Nation, the economy, and the Nation’s very democracy. (2) The Federal minimum wage does not only affect the young and inexperienced worker. More than half of all minimum wage workers are over the age of 24. (3) Nearly 60 percent of States have raised their minimum wage above the Federal minimum wage, and in nearly 25 percent of States the wage is adjusted yearly for inflation. (4) Opponents of minimum wage increases routinely use dire predictions about job losses and the failure of businesses in locations that raise the minimum wage. These predictions have proven almost entirely untrue. Locations that raise the minimum wage largely reap the benefits of a stronger tax base and increased consumer demand. (5) Those opposed to minimum wage increases frequently use more than misleading campaigns, and in some cases have interfered with democracy to ensure that the will of citizens is frustrated. (6) Americans deserve a raise and the voters and constituents who support minimum wage increases should not be frustrated by anti-democratic special interests who have captured the legislative, executive, and regulatory apparatus of States and localities. 3. Safeguards for workers in States that reduce the minimum wage (a) Review of minimum wage laws The Secretary of Labor shall, within 30 days of the each fiscal year beginning after the date of enactment of this Act, identify any State that has, within the previous fiscal year that began after the date of enactment of this Act, reduced its State minimum wage, or which has reduced a minimum wage increase