BILL NUMBER: ACR 155	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Campos

                        MARCH 28, 2016

   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.