REPORT TITLE:
Breastfeeding



DESCRIPTION:
Authorizes employers to provide employees with up to one unpaid
hour per working day to breastfeed or express milk.  Specifies
that it is a discriminatory practice to restrict or limit the
right of a woman to breastfeed a child in a place of public
accommodations.  (SB825 HD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        825
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 2
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO BREASTFEEDING.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that women with infants
 
 2 and toddlers are the fastest growing segment of today's labor
 
 3 force, with at least fifty per cent of pregnant women who are
 
 4 employed returning to work by the time their children are three
 
 5 months old.
 
 6      The legislature further finds that the American Academy of
 
 7 Pediatrics recommends that women breastfeed for at least the
 
 8 first twelve months of a child's life and urges that arrangements
 
 9 be made to provide for expressing breastmilk if the mother and
 
10 child are separated.
 
11      Breastmilk contains all the nutrients a child needs for
 
12 ideal growth and development, including helpful antibodies,
 
13 proteins, immune cells, and growth factors.  Research indicates
 
14 that breastmilk and breastfeeding can protect a child against the
 
15 development of a number of chronic diseases, including juvenile
 
16 diabetes, lymphomas, Crohn's disease, celiac disease, some
 
17 chronic liver diseases, and ulcerative colitis.  In addition,
 
18 breastfeeding has been shown to reduce the mother's risk of
 
19 breast and ovarian cancer, hip fractures, and osteoporosis.
 

 
Page 2                                                     825
                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 2
                                                        H.D. 1
                                                        

 
 1      The legislature further finds that women who wish to
 
 2 continue breastfeeding after returning to work have relatively
 
 3 few needs, such as the availability of suitable, dependable, and
 
 4 efficient breast pumps; a clean, convenient, safe, private, and
 
 5 comfortable location to express milk at the worksite; the
 
 6 opportunity to pump their breasts frequently enough to maintain
 
 7 their milk supply; and an adequate place to temporarily store
 
 8 their expressed milk.
 
 9      The legislature further finds that many employers report
 
10 seeing positive results from facilitating lactation programs in
 
11 the workplace, including low absenteeism, high productivity, high
 
12 company loyalty, high employee morale, and lower health care
 
13 costs.  Employee absenteeism due to infant illness is three times
 
14 less among parents who have breastfed children as opposed to
 
15 formula-fed children.  Workplace programs that aim to improve
 
16 infant health may bring about reductions in employee health
 
17 insurance costs as well.
 
18      The purpose of this Act is to promote the practice of
 
19 breastfeeding in public accommodations and places of work by:
 
20      (1)  Authorizing employers to provide employees with up to
 
21           one unpaid hour per working day to breastfeed or
 
22           express milk; and
 

 
 
 
Page 3                                                     825
                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 2
                                                        H.D. 1
                                                        

 
 1      (2)  Specify that it is a discriminatory practice to
 
 2           restrict or limit the right of a woman to breastfeed a
 
 3           child in a place of public accommodations.
 
 4      SECTION 2.  Section 378, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
 5 by adding one new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
 6 read as follows:
 
 7      "§378-      Breastfeeding.  An employer may provide
 
 8 employees with up to one unpaid hour per working day for the sole
 
 9 purpose of breastfeeding or expressing milk for a period not to
 
10 exceed one year after the birth of a child; provided that the one
 
11 hour may be accumulated within a working day by more than one
 
12 break."
 
13      SECTION 3.  Section 489-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
14 amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
 
15      "(b)  It is a discriminatory practice [to deny]:
 
16      (1)  To deny a person the full and equal enjoyment of the
 
17           goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages,
 
18           and accommodations of a place of public accommodations
 
19           because of the known disability of an individual with
 
20           whom the person is known to have a relationship or
 
21           association[.]; and
 
22      (2)  To restrict or limit the right of a woman to breastfeed
 
23           a child in a place of public accommodations."
 

 
Page 4                                                     825
                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 2
                                                        H.D. 1
                                                        

 
 1      SECTION 4.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
 2 New statutory material is underscored.
 
 3      SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect on September 15,
 
 4 2001.