00CS FOR SENATE BILL NO. 297(RLS)                                                                                       
01 "An Act relating to breast-feeding."                                                                                    
02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03    * Section 1.  LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS.  The legislature finds that                                                    
04   (1)  the medical profession in the United States recommends that children from                                        
05 birth to the age of one year should be breast-fed unless, under particular circumstances, it is                         
06 medically inadvisable;                                                                                                  
07   (2)  in addition to the benefit of improving bonding between mothers and their                                        
08 babies, breast-feeding offers better nutrition, digestion, and immunity for babies than does                            
09 formula-feeding, and it may increase the intelligence quotient of a child;                                              
10   (3)  babies who are breast-fed have lower rates of death, meningitis, childhood                                       
11 leukemia and other cancers, diabetes, respiratory illnesses, bacterial and viral infections,                            
12 diarrheal diseases, otitis media, allergies, obesity, and developmental delays; and                                     
13   (4)  any promotion of family values should encourage public acceptance of this                                        
14 most basic act of nurture between a mother and her baby, and a mother should not be made                                

01 to feel incriminated or socially ostracized for breast-feeding her child.                                               
02    * Sec. 2.  AS 01.10.060 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:                                             
03  (b)  In the laws of the state, "lewd conduct," "lewd touching," "immoral                                              
04 conduct," "indecent conduct," and similar terms do not include the act of a woman                                       
05 breast-feeding a child in a public or private location where the woman and child are                                    
06 otherwise authorized to be.  Nothing in this subsection may be construed to authorize                                   
07 an act that is an offense under AS 11.61.123.                                                                           
08    * Sec. 3.  AS 44.83.990(4) is amended to read:                                                                     
09   (4)  "person" includes a public agency in addition to the entities set out                                           
10 in  AS 01.10.060(a)(8)  [AS 01.10.060(8)];