STAND. COM. REP. NO. 356

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: H.B. No. 486
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Labor and Public Employment, to which was
referred H.B. No. 486 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO BREASTFEEDING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to:

     (1)  Provide an unspecified tax credit for employers that
          provide a safe and secure area for a new mother to
          breastfeed;

     (2)  Require employers to provide nursing employees with up
          to one-half hour per working day for the sole purpose
          of breastfeeding or expressing milk for up to one year
          after giving birth;

     (3)  Specify that it is a discriminatory practice to
          restrict or limit the right of a woman to breastfeed in
          a place of public accommodation; and

     (4)  Exempt breastfeeding from being considered an indecent
          exposure.

     The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, the Hawaii
State Commission on the Status of Women, Healthy Mothers Healthy
Babies Coalition of Hawaii, the Kapiolani Medical Center for
Women & Children, and members of the public testified in support
of this measure.  The Department of Health and the Hawaii Civil

 
 
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                                 Page 2

 
Rights Commission testified in support of the intent of this
measure.  The Department of Taxation opposed this measure.

     Upon further consideration, your Committee amended this
measure by:

     (1)  Giving employers the option to provide nursing
          employees with adequate time during the working day to
          breastfeed or express milk for a period not exceeding
          one year after the birth of a child;

     (2)  Requiring the State Commission on the Status of Women
          to accumulate, compile, and publish information about
          instances of discrimination involving breastfeeding or
          expressing breastmilk in the workplace;

     (3)  Specifying that it is a discriminatory practice for any
          employer or labor organization to refuse to hire,
          discharge, or withhold pay, demote, or penalize a
          lactating woman who breastfeeds or extracts expressed
          breastmilk at the workplace;

     (4)  Deleting the provision which makes it a discriminatory
          practice to restrict or limit the right of a woman to
          breastfeed a child in a place of public accommodations;

     (5)  Deleting the indecent exposure offense exemption for
          women breastfeeding in a public place; and

     (6)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for purposes
          of style, clarity, and consistency.

     Your Committee finds that breastfeeding is a natural
function that provides perfect food for infants.  The advantages
of breastfeeding are indisputable and include nutritional,
immunological, and psychological benefits for both infant and
mother.  In Hawaii, a high percentage of women attempt to
breastfeed their infants in the hospital, but by their six-week
postpartum check, the rate quickly declines.  Your Committee
finds that this decline is caused in part by mothers returning to
the workforce soon after delivery because of Hawaii's high cost
of living and employers' lack of support for breastfeeding.

     Your Committee further finds that employers lack the proper
knowledge and incentives to fully support the practice of
breastfeeding.  This measure addresses this problem by promoting
the practice of breastfeeding in the workplace via tax incentives
and statutory recognition that it is a discriminatory practice to
penalize a breastfeeding employee.

 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 356
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     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Labor and Public Employment that is attached to this
report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose
of H.B. No. 486, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass
Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 486, H.D.
1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian
Affairs.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Labor and Public
                                   Employment,



                                   ______________________________
                                   TERRY NUI YOSHINAGA, Chair