BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1787
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 1787 (Lowenthal)
As Amended May 23, 2014
Majority vote
TRANSPORTATION 15-0 APPROPRIATIONS 13-0
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|Ayes:|Lowenthal, Linder, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Ammiano, Bloom, Bonta, | |Bradford, |
| |Buchanan, Daly, Frazier, | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| |Gatto, Holden, Logue, | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| |Nazarian, Patterson, | |Linder, Pan, Quirk, |
| |Quirk-Silva, Waldron | |Ridley-Thomas, Weber |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires large commercial airports in California to
provide a room separate from a public restroom behind security
at each gate where women can express breast milk in private.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the airport manager of an airport that conducts
commercial operations and that has more than one million
enplanements per year, on or before January 1, 2016, to
provide a room or other location at each airport terminal
behind the airport security screening area for members of the
public to express breast milk in private that meets both of
the following conditions:
a) Includes, at a minimum, a chair and an electrical
outlet; and,
b) Is located outside of the confines of a public restroom.
2)Exempts Terminal One at the San Diego International Airport
from providing a room or other location behind the airport
security screening area, but requires the airport to provide a
secure room located in the same terminal prior to entering the
security screening area that meets all of the other conditions
described above.
3)Requires airports that conduct commercial operations and that
AB 1787
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have less than one million enplanements per year to comply
upon new terminal construction or upon the replacement,
expansion, or renovation of an existing terminal.
4)Requires all airports, upon construction of a new terminal or
the replacement, expansion, or renovation of an existing
terminal, to provide a sink in any room or other location
designed to comply with the above requirements.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires every California employer to provide a reasonable
amount of break time for an employee to express breast milk
for her infant child.
2)Requires employers to make reasonable efforts to provide an
employee desiring to express breast milk with the use of a
room or other location, other than a toilet stall, in close
proximity to the employee's work area to express milk in
private.
3)Allows a mother to breastfeed her child in any location,
public or private, except the private home of another, where
the mother and the child are otherwise authorized to be
present.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, ten airports with annual passenger counts exceeding
one million would be subject to the bill's January 1, 2016,
mandate, at a total of 30 terminals: Los Angeles (9), San
Francisco (4), San Diego (4), Oakland (2), Sacramento (2),
Orange County (1), San Jose (2), Ontario (4), Burbank (1), and
Long Beach (1). If costs are up to $25,000 per terminal,
one-time costs would total up to $750,000. These costs would be
state reimbursable to the extent the airports, which are
self-supporting public enterprises, submit successful mandate
claims rather than covering the costs through their budgets.
COMMENTS : According to the United States Breastfeeding
Committee, women with infants and children are the fastest
growing segment of the workforce. Among employed women with
children under age three, approximately 70% work full-time.
One-third of mothers return to work within three months after
giving birth, and two-thirds return within six months.
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The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that babies be
exclusively breastfed for about the first six months of life,
and should continue to be breastfed for a year or for as long as
is mutually desired by the mother and the baby. The Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that the percentage
of new mothers in California who exclusively breastfeed at three
months is 56.8%, dropping dramatically to 27.4% at six months.
While breastfeeding is recommended, workplace and other facility
constraints often create obstacles for mothers trying to
continue to breastfeed after returning to work. California law
clearly establishes a woman's right to breastfeed her child in
any location where she is otherwise authorized to be. The law
also requires employers to make reasonable efforts to provide
employees with a private room and break time to express
breastmilk. These legal protections, while critical, do not
help in situations where a working mother must travel for work
without her child and must express breast milk.
This bill requires all large commercial airports in California
to provide, by 2016, a private room or space, outside the
confines of a public restroom, behind security at each terminal
for nursing mothers to express breastmilk. The bill allows the
San Diego International Airport to provide the room before
security at its Terminal One due to severe space constraints
behind security. Smaller commercial airports would be required
to comply only upon new terminal construction or upon
replacement or renovation of an existing terminal. Currently in
California, only one airport - San Francisco International -
offers private rooms behind security for the purpose of
expressing breastmilk.
Analysis Prepared by : Anya Lawler / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0003781