REPORT TITLE:
Breastfeeding



DESCRIPTION:
Promotes the practice of breastfeeding in public accommodations
and places of work. (SD1)


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        825
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
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 arrangements be
 
 9 made to provide for expressing breastmilk if the mother and child
 
10 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.
 

 
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 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 provide for an income tax
 
19 credit for employers who provide a portion of the worksite for
 
20 breastfeeding or expressing milk and to promote breastfeeding or
 
21 expressing milk in the workplace.
 
22      SECTION 2.  Chapter 235, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
23 by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 read as follows:
 
 2      "§235-      Breastfeeding facility; income tax credit.  (a)
 
 3 For taxable years beginning after December 31, 1999, each
 
 4 corporate resident taxpayer who files a corporate net income tax
 
 5 return for a taxable year, may claim a tax credit under this
 
 6 section against the Hawaii state corporate net income tax.  The
 
 7 tax credit:
 
 8      (1)  May be claimed for the imputed or actual rental value
 
 9           of any portion of the corporate resident taxpayer's
 
10           property used for the sole purpose of breastfeeding or
 
11           expressing milk; and
 
12      (2)  Shall not exceed     per cent of the total cost of
 
13           building and maintaining the facility.
 
14      (b)  Tax credits which exceed the taxpayer's income tax
 
15 liability may be used as a credit against the taxpayer's income
 
16 tax liability in subsequent years until exhausted.
 
17      (c)  The director of taxation shall prepare such forms as
 
18 may be necessary to claim a credit under this section.  The
 
19 director may also require the taxpayer to furnish reasonable
 
20 information to ascertain the validity of the claim for credit
 
21 made under this section and may adopt rules necessary to
 
22 effectuate the purposes of this section pursuant to chapter 91."
 
23      SECTION 3.  Section 378, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 

 
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                                     S.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 by adding one new section to be appropriately designated and to
 
 2 read as follows:
 
 3      "§378-      Breastfeeding.  An employer shall provide
 
 4 employees with up to one unpaid hour per working day for the sole
 
 5 purpose of breastfeeding or expressing milk for a period not to
 
 6 exceed one year after the birth of a child; provided that the one
 
 7 hour may be accumulated within a working day by more than one
 
 8 break."
 
 9      SECTION 4.  Section 378-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
10 amended by amending the definition of "because of sex" to read:
 
11      ""Because of sex" shall include, but is not limited to,
 
12 because of pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or extracting
 
13 expressed breastmilk, or related medical conditions; and women
 
14 affected by pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding or extracting
 
15 expressed breastmilk, or related medical conditions shall be
 
16 treated the same for all employment-related purposes, including
 
17 receipt of benefits under fringe benefit programs, as other
 
18 individuals not so affected but similar in their ability or
 
19 inability to work."
 
20      SECTION 5.  Section 489-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
21 amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:
 
22      "(b)  It is a discriminatory practice [to deny]:
 
23      (1)  To deny a person the full and equal enjoyment of the
 

 
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 1           goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages,
 
 2           and accommodations of a place of public accommodations
 
 3           because of the known disability of an individual with
 
 4           whom the person is known to have a relationship or
 
 5           association[.]; and
 
 6      (2)  To restrict or limit the right of a woman to breastfeed
 
 7           a child in a place of public accommodations."
 
 8      SECTION 6.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
 9 New statutory material is underscored.
 
10      SECTION 7.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.