HB1284

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that every individual should have an equal opportunity to participate fully in the economic, cultural, and intellectual life of the State. The legislature also finds that every individual should have an equal opportunity to participate in all aspects of life, including, but not limited to, in employment, places of accommodation, resort or amusement, in educational institutions, in public services, and in housing and commercial space accommodations.

Presently, Federal law does not provide protection based on political affiliation. However, other states, cities, and counties do. The District of Columbia Human Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on political affiliation by public and private employers, housing, educational institutions, public accommodations, and when applying for government services, facilities, and benefits.

The purpose of this Act is to prohibit unfair discriminatory practices.

SECTION 2. Section 378-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"PART I. [OLD] DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES

§§378-1 to 378-10 REPEALED. L 1977, c 85, §2; L 1981, c 94, §2.

PART I. DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES

§378-1 Definitions. As used herein:

"Arrest and court record" includes any information about an individual having been questioned, apprehended, taken into custody or detention, held for investigation, charged with an offense, served a summons, arrested with or without a warrant, tried, or convicted pursuant to any law enforcement or military authority.

"Because of sex" shall include, but is not limited to, because of pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions; and women affected by pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions shall be treated the same for all employment-related purposes, including receipt of benefits under fringe benefit programs, as other individuals not so affected but similar in their ability or inability to work.

"Being regarded as having such an impairment" includes but is not limited to employer consideration of an individual's genetic information, including genetic information of any family member of an individual, or the individual's refusal to submit to a genetic test as a condition of initial or continued employment.

"Commission" means the civil rights commission.

"Disability" means the state of having a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities, having a record of such an impairment, or being regarded as having such an impairment.

"Domestic or sexual violence victim" or "victim" means an individual who is the victim of domestic or sexual violence as defined in section 378-71.

"Employer" means any person, including the State or any of its political subdivisions and any agent of such person, having one or more employees, but shall not include the United States.

"Employment" means any service performed by an individual for another person under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, whether lawfully or unlawfully entered into. Employment does not include services by an individual employed as a domestic in the home of any person, except as provided in section 378-2(a)(9).

"Employment agency" means any person engaged in the business of providing employment information, procuring employment for applicants, or providing employees for placement with employers upon request.

"Family member" means, with respect to a certain individual, another individual related by blood to that individual.

"Gender identity or expression" includes a person's actual or perceived gender, as well as a person's gender identity, gender-related self-image, gender-related appearance, or gender-related expression, regardless of whether that gender identity, gender-related self-image, gender-related appearance, or gender-related expression is different from that traditionally associated with the person's sex at birth.

"Genetic information" means information about genes, gene products, hereditary susceptibility to disease, or inherited characteristics that may derive from the individual or family member.

"Genetic test" means a laboratory test which is generally accepted in the scientific and medical communities for the determination of the presence or absence of genetic information.

"Labor organization" means any organization which exists and is constituted for the purpose, in whole or in part, of collective bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment, or of other mutual aid or protection.

"Marital status" means the state of being married or being single.

"Person" means one or more individuals, and includes, but is not limited to, partnerships, associations, or corporations, legal representatives, trustees, trustees in bankruptcy, receivers, or the State or any of its political subdivisions.

"Reproductive health decision" means the use or attempted use of any legal drug, device, or medical service intended to prevent or terminate a pregnancy, or the use or attempted use of any assisted reproductive technology.

"Sexual orientation" means having a preference for heterosexuality, homosexuality, or bisexuality, having a history of any one or more of these preferences, or being identified with any one or more of these preferences. "Sexual orientation" shall not be construed to protect conduct otherwise proscribed by law.

"Political Affiliation" means the state of belonging to, endorsing, or voting for candidates belonging to a political party."

SECTION 3. Section 378-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"§378-2 Discriminatory practices made unlawful; offenses defined. (a) It shall be an unlawful discriminatory practice:

(1) Because of race, sex including gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, religion, color, ancestry, disability, marital status, arrest and court record, reproductive health decision, [or] domestic or sexual violence victim status if the domestic or sexual violence victim provides notice to the victim's employer of such status or the employer has actual knowledge of such status, or political affiliation:

(A) For any employer to refuse to hire or employ or to bar or discharge from employment, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual in compensation or in the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment;

(B) For any employment agency to fail or refuse to refer for employment, or to classify or otherwise to discriminate against, any individual;

(C) For any employer or employment agency to print, circulate, or cause to be printed or circulated any statement, advertisement, or publication or to use any form of application for employment or to make any inquiry in connection with prospective employment, that expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification, or discrimination;

(D) For any labor organization to exclude or expel from its membership any individual or to discriminate in any way against any of its members, employer, or employees; or

(E) For any employer or labor organization to refuse to enter into an apprenticeship agreement as defined in section 372-2; provided that no apprentice shall be younger than sixteen years of age;

(2) For any employer, labor organization, or employment agency to discharge, expel, or otherwise discriminate against any individual because the individual has opposed any practice forbidden by this part or has filed a complaint, testified, or assisted in any proceeding respecting the discriminatory practices prohibited under this part;

(3) For any person, whether an employer, employee, or not, to aid, abet, incite, compel, or coerce the doing of any of the discriminatory practices forbidden by this part, or to attempt to do so;

(4) For any employer to violate the provisions of section 121-43 relating to nonforfeiture for absence by members of the national guard;

(5) For any employer to refuse to hire or employ or to bar or discharge from employment any individual because of assignment of income for the purpose of satisfying the individual's child support obligations as provided for under section 571-52;

(6) For any employer, labor organization, or employment agency to exclude or otherwise deny equal jobs or benefits to a qualified individual because of the known disability of an individual with whom the qualified individual is known to have a relationship or association;

(7) For any employer or labor organization to refuse to hire or employ, bar or discharge from employment, withhold pay from, demote, or penalize a lactating employee because the employee breastfeeds or expresses milk at the workplace. For purposes of this paragraph, the term "breastfeeds" means the feeding of a child directly from the breast;

(8) For any employer to refuse to hire or employ, bar or discharge from employment, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual in compensation or in the terms, conditions, or privileges of employment of any individual because of the individual's credit history or credit report, unless the information in the individual's credit history or credit report directly relates to a bona fide occupational qualification under section 378-3(2); or

(9) For any employer to discriminate against any individual employed as a domestic, in compensation or in terms, conditions, or privileges of employment because of the individual's race, sex including gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, religion, color, ancestry, disability, marital status, [or] reproductive health decision, or political affiliation. [.]

(b) For purposes of subsection (a)(1):

(1) An employer may verify that an employee is a victim of domestic or sexual violence by requesting that the employee provide:

(A) Certified or exemplified restraining orders, injunctions against harassment, and documents from criminal cases;

(B) Documentation from a victim services organization or domestic or sexual violence program, agency, or facility, including a shelter or safe house for victims of domestic or sexual violence; or

(C) Documentation from a medical professional, mental health care provider, attorney, advocate, social worker, or member of the clergy from whom the employee or the employee's minor child has sought assistance in relation to the domestic or sexual violence; and

(2) An employer may verify an employee's status as a domestic or sexual violence victim not more than once every six months following the date the employer:

(A) Was provided notice by the employee of the employee's status as a domestic or sexual violence victim;

(B) Has actual knowledge of the employee's status as a domestic or sexual violence victim; or

provided that where the employee provides verification in the form of a protective order related to the domestic or sexual violence with an expiration date, the employer may not request any further form of verification of the employee's status as a domestic or sexual violence victim until the date of the expiration or any extensions of the protective order, whichever is later. "

SECTION 4. Section 489-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§489-3 Discriminatory practices prohibition. Unfair discriminatory practices that deny, or attempt to deny, a person the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of a place of public accommodation on the basis of race; sex, including gender identity or expression; sexual orientation; color; religion; ancestry; [or] disability, including the use of a service animal[,]; or political affiliation are prohibited."

SECTION 5. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1284
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII