Momentum may be building toward further federal legislation on the issue of equal pay, if activity at the state level is any indication.

Just this week, Texas Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D) proposed a bill that would change the calculation of the statute of limitations for equal pay claims under state law so that it is triggered each time compensation is paid pursuant to a discriminatory compensation decision or practice.

The bill mirrors the federal Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which was passed by Congress in January 2009.

The Texas bill would overturn the state supreme court's August 2012 decision in Prairie View A&M University v. Chatha, just as the Ledbetter Act overturned a contrary U.S. Supreme Court decision.

An identical bill was introduced in the Texas Senate two weeks earlier.

The Texas legislature's activity comes at a time when federal Democratic lawmakers are making a new push on legislation to bolster federal equal pay law.

On Jan. 23, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) reintroduced the Paycheck Fairness Act (S. 84, H.R. 377), which would amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to ban retaliation against female workers who share compensation information and require employers to prove that pay disparities between male and female employees are qualifications- or performance-based, and not based on sex. Less than a week later, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) reintroduced the Fair Pay Act (S. 168), which is premised on the notion of male- and female-dominated categories of jobs and, among other things, would require employers to disclose their job categories and corresponding pay scales.

Both laws would build off of the Ledbetter Act.

Proponents of the bills argue that additional federal legislation is necessary to close the gender pay gap, which sees female workers earn $0.77 for every dollar earned by their male counterparts.

Opponents of the proposed laws question the size of the gender pay gap and whether discrimination is the real reason for remaining pay disparities, suggesting instead that other factors play are larger role. They also question the need for further legislation, arguing that the Equal Pay Act and the Ledbetter law provide adequate protection and potential relief.

The Paycheck Fairness Act and the Fair Pay Act have both been proposed and have failed many times before. But with a big, predominantly conservative state like Texas entering the fray, support for more federal law on pay equity may be building.