STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1587

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.C.R. No. 170

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Government Operations and Labor, Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 170 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING AND GENERAL SERVICES TO DEDICATE ONE PRIVATE ROOM IN THE HAWAII STATE CAPITOL BUILDING FOR EMPLOYEES AND VISITORS TO BREASTFEED OR EXPRESS MILK,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Department of Accounting and General Services to dedicate one private room in the Hawaii State Capitol Building for employees and visitors to breastfeed and express milk.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i State Commission on the Status of Women, Breastfeeding Hawaii, Early Childhood Action Strategy, Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii, American Association of University Women of Hawaii, Hawaii Youth Services Network, and eleven individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Accounting and General Services.

Your Committees find that numerous health organizations recommend that infants be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life and continue to be breastfed until twelve months of age or longer. Your Committees also find that federal and Hawaii law require employers to provide reasonable break time and a location, other than a bathroom, for employees to express breast milk.

Your Committees further find that research shows that breast milk and breastfeeding provide advantages with regard to the infant's general health, growth, and development, while significantly decreasing the risk of a large number of acute and chronic diseases. Mothers who breastfeed have a decreased risk of breast, uterine, and ovarian cancer; postpartum depression; anxiety disorder; cardiovascular disease; and osteoporosis later in life. Furthermore, the nutrients exclusive to breast milk are vital to the growth, development, and maintenance of the human brain and cannot be manufactured. Your Committees additionally find that the health benefits of breastfeeding result in lower health care costs for employers, less time off for employees to care for sick children, enhancement of an employer's image, and higher productivity and employee loyalty. Finally, your Committees find that employers, employees, and society benefit from supporting a mother's decision to breastfeed and from reducing the obstacles to initiating and continuing breastfeeding. This measure therefore requests the Department of Accounting and General Services to dedicate a private room in the State Capitol Building for breastfeeding or expressing milk.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the dedicated room to have an electrical outlet for electronic breast pump usage and refrigerator to store breast milk;

(2) Requiring a certified copy of this measure to be delivered to Dr. Sylvia Pager's husband, Dr. David Pager; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Government Operations and Labor, Culture and the Arts that are attached to this report, your Committees concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 170, as amended herein, and recommend that it be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 170, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Government Operations and Labor, Culture and the Arts,

________________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair

________________________________ LAURA H. THIELEN, Chair