BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AJR 47
                                                                  Page  1


          ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
          AJR 47 (Block)
          As Introduced  August 13, 2012
          Majority vote 

           LABOR & EMPLOYMENT     5-1                                      
           
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          |Ayes:|Swanson, Alejo, Allen,    |     |                          |
          |     |Furutani, Yamada          |     |                          |
          |     |                          |     |                          |
          |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
          |Nays:|Morrell                   |     |                          |
          |     |                          |     |                          |
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           SUMMARY  :  Urges Congress to reintroduce and adopt the Paycheck 
          Fairness Act to help close the gender wage gap.  Specifically, 
           this resolution  makes the following legislative findings and 
          declarations:

          1)Forty-nine years after the passage of the federal Equal Pay 
            Act of 1963 and forty-eight years after the passage of Title 
            VII of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, American women 
            continue to suffer disparities in wages that cannot be 
            accounted for by age, education, or work experience.

          2)According to the U.S. Census Bureau, year-round, full-time 
            working women earned only 77 cents for every dollar paid to 
            their male counterparts, indicating little change or progress 
            in pay equity.

          3)In 2010, women in California with a high school diploma were 
            paid only 73 cents for every dollar paid to men with a high 
            school diploma, and women in California with a bachelor's 
            degree were paid only 74 cents for every dollar paid to men 
            with a bachelor's degree, which indicates that the wage gap 
            persists at all levels of education.

          4)Women have struggled to regain jobs in the economic recovery 
            and continue to face high levels of long-term unemployment, 
            even as their families rely on them more heavily for financial 
            support.

          5)The unemployment rate for women in California in 2011 was 








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            11.4%, a 6.2 percentage-point increase since the recession 
            began in December of 2007, and 45.1% of jobless women workers 
            in California had been looking for work for 27 weeks or more.

          6)Wages overall are stagnating and the wage gap has barely 
            budged over the last ten years and while Congress and the 
            President have taken initial steps to improve the laws that 
            govern pay discrimination by passing the federal Lilly 
            Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, there is more that must be 
            done to realize the decades-old promise of fair pay for equal 
            work.

          7)The Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that would give women more 
            protections against wage discrimination, failed to clear a 
            procedural hurdle in the U.S. Senate in June 2012 for the 
            second time in two years.

          8)The Paycheck Fairness Act would have built upon the federal 
            Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 by protecting workers who 
            inquire about pay disparities from retaliation and punish 
            employers who engage in paycheck discrimination.

          9)The California State Legislature fully supports the efforts to 
            ensure pay equity and to protect employees, who seek 
            information about pay without fear of retribution, urges 
            Congress to reintroduce and adopt the Paycheck Fairness Act to 
            help close the gender wage gap.

           COMMENTS  :  The author states that it has been nearly 50 years 
          since the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and American women continue to 
          suffer disparities in wages that cannot be accounted for by age, 
          education, or work experience. 

          The average woman earns 77% of a man's salary regardless of age, 
          education, or work experience. S. 3220, the Paycheck Fairness 
          Act authored by Senator Barbara Mikulski prevents companies from 
          retaliating against employees who inquire about pay disparities 
          and would permit workers to sue for punitive damages. S. 3220 
          would protect workers and provide a legal path for women to 
          finally diminish the wage gap.  The bill is provisionally dead 
          due to a failed vote for cloture in June 2012.

          According to the April 2012 National Women's Law Center Report 
          (Report), women have struggled to regain jobs in the recovery 








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          and continue to face high levels of long-term unemployment, even 
          as their families rely on them more heavily for financial 
          support.  Wages over all are stagnating and the wage gap has 
          barely budged over the last ten years.  The gap particularly 
          harms women in these economically difficult times, when women 
          the most financially vulnerable, are more likely to turn to 
          public assistance to make ends meet for their families.

          The Report also states that the wage gap for women persists at 
          all levels of education and exists across numerous occupations.  
          Fair pay would help close the wage gap and increase women's 
          economic security.

          Finally, the Report says that although Congress has taken 
          initial steps to improve the laws that govern pay discrimination 
          there is more that must be done to realize the decades-old 
          promise of fair pay for equal work.


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Lorie Alvarez / L. & E. / (916) 
          319-2091 


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