California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 155

Introduced by Assembly Member Campos

March 28, 2016

Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 155—Relative to Equal Pay Day.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACR 155, as introduced, Campos. Equal Pay Day

This measure would proclaim April 12, 2016, as Equal Pay Day in recognition of the need to eliminate the gender gap in earnings by women and to promote policies to ensure equal pay for all.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, More than 50 years after the passage of the Equal
Pay Act, women, especially minority women, continue to suffer
the consequences of unequal pay; and

WHEREAS, According to a report by the National Partnership
for Women & Families, women in California earned a median of
$0.84 for each dollar earned by men as of October 2014; and

WHEREAS, As reported by the United States Census Bureau,
women working full time, year round in 2013, typically earned 78
percent of what men earned, indicating little change or progress
in pay equity; and

WHEREAS, According to “The Simple Truth about the Gender
Pay Gap,” a report by the American Association of University
Women (AAUW), the gender pay gap is even larger for women
of color, where African American women earned 63 percent and
Latina women earned 54 percent of what men earned in 2014; and

WHEREAS, According to “Graduating to a Pay Gap,” a 2012
research report by the American Association of University Women
(AAUW), the gender pay gap is evident one year after college
graduation, even after controlling for factors known to affect
earnings, such as occupation, hours worked, and college major;
and

WHEREAS, In 2011, the Georgetown University Center on
Education and the Workforce found that college-educated women
working full time earn $650,000 less than their male peers do over
the course of a lifetime; and

WHEREAS, In 2009, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed
into law, which gives back to employees their day in court to
challenge a pay gap. Now we must pass the Paycheck Fairness
Act, which would amend the Equal Pay Act by closing loopholes
and improving the law’s effectiveness; and

WHEREAS, In 2015, California passed SB 253, strengthening
the state’s existing Equal Pay Act by eliminating loopholes that
prevent effective enforcement of gender-based discrimination and
empowering employees to discuss pay without fear of retaliation,
providing one more tool to tackle the problem; and

WHEREAS, Nearly four in 10 mothers are primary breadwinners
in their households and nearly two-thirds are primary or significant
earners, making pay equity critical to families’ economic security;
and

WHEREAS, A lifetime of lower pay means women have less
income to save for retirement and less income counted in a social
security or pension benefit formula; and

WHEREAS, Fair pay equity policies can be implemented simply
and without undue costs or hardship in both the public and private
sectors; and

WHEREAS, Fair pay strengthens the security of families today
and eases future retirement costs while enhancing the American
economy; and

WHEREAS, Tuesday, April 12, symbolizes the time in 2016
when the wages paid to American women catch up to the wages
paid to men from the previous year; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature proclaims Tuesday, April
12, 2016, as Equal Pay Day in recognition of the need to eliminate
the gender gap in earnings by women and to promote policies to
ensure equal pay for all; and be it further

Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies
of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.