BILL ANALYSIS �
AJR 47
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Date of Hearing: August 28, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
Sandre Swanson, Chair
AJR 47 (Block) - As Introduced: August 13, 2012
SUBJECT : Gender pay equity.
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 11.4
percent, a 6.2 percentage-point increase since the recession
began in December of 2007, and 45.1 percent 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
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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,
women have struggled to regain jobs in the recovery 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.
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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.
PRIOR RELATED LEGISLATION :
SJR 7 (Bowen) Resolution Chapter # 35 of 2005, proclaimed April
19, 2005, as Equal Pay Day in California, and urges Congress to
protect the right of all American women to receive equal pay for
equal work and to continue to provide more effective remedies to
victims of discrimination in the payment of wages on the basis
of sex.
AJR 30 (Liu) Resolution Chapter # 145 of 2005, memorialized
Congress and the President to uphold protections of women's
equality and encourages all Americans to participate in the
celebration of Women's Equality Day on August 26, 2005.
SJR 20 (Alquist) of 2006 would have requested the Congress and
the President to uphold protections of women's equality and to
encourage all Americans to participate in the celebration of
Women's Equality Day on August 26, 2006, the 86th anniversary of
the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States
Constitution, which gave women the right to vote. The resolution
was held in Assembly without further action.
ACR 155 (Skinner) of 2010 would have proclaimed April 20, 2010,
as Equal Pay for Women Day in California. The resolution was
held at the Assembly Desk.
AJR 47 (Salda�a) of 2010 would have memorialized the Congress
and the President of the United States to uphold protections of
women's equality and to encourage all Americans to participate
in the celebration of Women's Equality Day on August 26, 2010,
the 90th anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment
to the United States Constitution, which gave women the right to
vote. The resolution died in the Senate.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
AJR 47
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Support
American Association of University Women-California
California National Organization for Women
National Council of Jewish Women, California
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Lorie Alvarez / L. & E. / (916)
319-2091