03/15/2007 01:30 PM Senate LABOR & COMMERCE
| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| HB108 | |
| Overview: Current Challenges to Women in the Alaska Workplace | |
| Adjourn |
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
| += | SB 99 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | SB 18 | TELECONFERENCED | |
| += | HB 108 | TELECONFERENCED | |
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
SENATE LABOR AND COMMERCE STANDING COMMITTEE
March 15, 2007
1:38 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Senator Johnny Ellis, Chair
Senator Gary Stevens, Vice Chair
Senator Bettye Davis
Senator Con Bunde
MEMBERS ABSENT
Senator Lyman Hoffman
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
CS FOR HOUSE BILL NO. 108(L&C)
"An Act extending the termination date for the Board of Marine
Pilots; and providing for an effective date."
MOVED CSHB 108(L&C) OUT OF COMMITTEE
OVERVIEW: Current Challenges to Women in the Alaska Workplace
SENATE BILL NO. 99
"An Act relating to the composition of the Alaska Police
Standards Council; and providing for an effective date."
SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD
SENATE BILL NO. 18
"An Act relating to property foreclosures and executions; and
amending Rule 65, Alaska Rules of Civil Procedure."
SCHEDULED BUT NOT HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
BILL: HB 108
SHORT TITLE: BOARD OF MARINE PILOTS
SPONSOR(s): LABOR & COMMERCE
01/25/07 (H) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
01/25/07 (H) L&C, FIN
02/14/07 (H) L&C AT 3:00 PM CAPITOL 17
02/14/07 (H) Moved CSHB 108(L&C) Out of Committee
02/14/07 (H) MINUTE(L&C)
02/15/07 (H) L&C RPT CS(L&C) 7DP
02/15/07 (H) DP: GARDNER, BUCH, GATTO, RAMRAS,
LEDOUX, NEUMAN, OLSON
02/21/07 (H) FIN AT 1:30 PM HOUSE FINANCE 519
02/21/07 (H) Moved CSHB 108(L&C) Out of Committee
02/21/07 (H) MINUTE(FIN)
02/22/07 (H) FIN RPT CS(L&C) 9DP
02/22/07 (H) DP: GARA, CRAWFORD, HAWKER, JOULE,
THOMAS, NELSON, STOLTZE, MEYER,
CHENAULT
02/26/07 (H) TRANSMITTED TO (S)
02/26/07 (H) VERSION: CSHB 108(L&C)
02/28/07 (S) READ THE FIRST TIME - REFERRALS
02/28/07 (S) L&C, FIN
03/13/07 (S) L&C AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 211
03/13/07 (S) Heard & Held
03/13/07 (S) MINUTE(L&C)
03/15/07 (S) L&C AT 1:30 PM BELTZ 211
WITNESS REGISTER
GERAN TARR, Director
Alaskans for Choice Alliance
Juneau AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented overview on current challenges to
women in the Alaska workplace.
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA
Alaska State Capitol
Juneau, AK 99801-1182
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on challenges to women in the
Alaska workplace.
SARAH GROSSHUESCH
Alaska Breastfeeding Coalition
Juneau AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on challenges to women in the
Alaska workplace.
CINDY SPANYERS
Alaska Public Employees Association (APEA/AFT)
Juneau AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on women's pay scale issues in the
Alaska workplace.
ROBIN SMITH
Arctic Wire Rope & Supply
No address provided
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on insurance in the workplace
issues.
BRENDA STANFIELD
Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault
Fairbanks AK
POSITION STATEMENT: Commented on insurance in the workplace.
ACTION NARRATIVE
CHAIR JOHNNY ELLIS called the Senate Labor and Commerce Standing
Committee meeting to order at 1:38:39 PM. Present at the call to
order were Senators Davis, Bunde, Stevens and Ellis. Chair Ellis
announced that SB 99 and SB 18 would not be heard today. He said
the sponsors and committee staff are still working on those
pieces of legislation.
CSHB 108(L&C)-BOARD OF MARINE PILOTS
CHAIR ELLIS announced CSHB 108 (L&C) to be up for consideration.
1:40:26 PM
SENATOR STEVENS moved to pass CSHB 108(L&C) from committee with
individual recommendations and attached fiscal note. There were
no objections and it was so ordered.
^Overview: Current Challenges to Women in the Alaska Workplace
CHAIR ELLIS invited Ms. Tarr to come forward and said that she
was his former chief of staff and was one of the organizers of
the women's summit. She would present the overview on challenges
to women in the Alaska workplace.
GERAN TARR, Director, Alaskans for Choice Alliance, said she
organized this two day women's summit to cover a broad range of
issues affecting women in Alaska from reproductive rights to
health care options. She said she would highlight the issues
that affect their ability to maintain jobs. She hoped ideas
would be generated on things that could be worked on in the
future.
1:43:01 PM
CHAIR ELLIS invited Representative Cissna to join the committee
and said she is the sponsor of the breast feeding in the
workplace bill in the House and he is sponsor of the same bill
in the Senate.
1:43:31 PM
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA said this issue was brought to her by one
of her neighbors. She related that her own mother thought women
didn't breastfeed in the workplace. She ended up having
extraordinarily severe allergies and at six months was dying of
starvation and secondary infections from the rashes she had on
her body. However, when she had her own daughter, she was a
single parent and had to work and she had to also meet employer
expectations.
1:46:05 PM
SARAH GROSSHUESCH, Alaska Breastfeeding Coalition board member,
related that breastfeeding has many scientifically proven health
benefits versus formula feeding. Those benefits actually
increase with the duration a woman breast feeds. Some of those
benefits are fewer ear infections, fewer gastro-intestinal and
respiratory illnesses; it also provides protective factors
against childhood obesity. It provides protective benefits for
the mother as well.
1:47:46 PM
Pregnancy Risk Assessment Management Systems (CRAMS) has some
analyses of breastfeeding rates. They indicate that Alaska has
phenomenal initiation rates; it is always in the top three, but
unfortunately, that isn't maintained. Why that happens is the
coalition's main concern.
Statistics showed that 42 percent of mothers were still in
school or working outside the home; 55.5 percent of them were
still breastfeeding four months after giving birth,
significantly less than the 63.3 percent of non-working mothers
who were still breastfeeding. The goal is to have 50 percent of
mothers in Alaska breastfeeding six months after giving birth by
2010. It was discovered that 9 percent of mothers took their
baby to work. Of those, 70.8 percent were still breastfeeding
(opposed to the 53.8 percent who left their children at a
childcare cottage).
1:49:42 PM
MS. TARR said the top five reasons women stop breastfeeding are:
difficulty nursing, the baby is not satisfied with the breast
milk, the mother is not producing enough milk, mom's nipples
were sore, and at 23.1 percent it was because mom went back to
work or school.
She thought the most pertinent piece of information came from a
WIC professional who put together random sampling of charts from
the WIC clinic. Of the 98 breastfeeding women on the charts who
returned to work, only 17 were able to pump milk while at work.
The reasons cited were: the boss was a man and said he would be
uncomfortable, not getting a break, and having no private place
to do it. Statistics from WIC and Denali Kid Care show those
babies that aren't getting breast milk are going to cost the
system more money.
CHAIR ELLIS said he envisioned having legislation before them at
a later time and said since the committee is about labor and
commerce issues, it would be concerned about the tradeoffs in
the workplace - even though her arguments about the value of
breastfeeding carry the day. He asked her to help the committee
think about the tradeoffs in the workplace - what are reasonable
requests and things that might not be so easily accommodated.
1:51:28 PM
MS. GROSSHUESCH replied a perfect world would have a progressive
policy. SEARHC allows babies to come to work, but it has small
clinics. Legislation should look for a minimum standard; privacy
and break time are important and a place to express milk other
than a restroom.
REPRESENTATIVE CISSNA added that her legislation says "not a
toilet stall" and usually room can be found for a chair
somewhere. The legislation doesn't restrict the imagination at
all and leaves room for employers to come up with solutions. She
pointed out that there are lots of good reasons for keeping the
employee at work.
CHAIR ELLIS asked Ms. Grosshuesch if her organization has begun
to talk with business organizations like the National Federation
of Independent Business or the State Chamber - to bring them
along on this issue.
MS. GROSSHUESCH replied that is her intention. They have
endorsement from the National Education Association (NEA) that
felt it wasn't reasonable for them to offer that benefit if they
couldn't guarantee that the beneficiaries could use it at work.
They have other endorsements from health organizations.
CHAIR ELLIS asked to get the endorsements because that makes
promoting it in the legislature easier.
MS. GROSSHUESCH added that it is many times offered in
conjunction with employee wellness plans, which are taking off
in Alaska.
1:56:30 PM
KELLY OAKS, UAA student, said she is doing a one-year internship
with Planned Parenthood to complete her degree. She has been
researching prescription equity and after calling the 100 top
private businesses in Alaska found that not all companies' plans
that cover prescriptions cover contraceptive services. Only one-
third of the companies she called provide contraceptive coverage
for their employees.
MS. OAKS said she works part time while she is going to school,
and her company is one that doesn't cover contraceptive
services. It can cost a woman an average of $1,000 more per year
than a comparable male might pay.
1:58:38 PM
CHAIR ELLIS asked what other states are doing on this issue.
MS. OAKS replied that 26 states already require prescription
equity.
SENATOR DAVIS asked if she is interested in introducing
legislation.
MS. OAKS replied yes and that she is working with someone right
now.
1:59:22 PM
CINDY SPANYERS, APEA/AFT, said she is also a mother. A couple of
months ago her son picked increasing the minimum wage for an
essay topic. He was excited about Congress's efforts to increase
the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to more than $7.00 an hour.
He was asked why that was relevant to him and he responded that
increasing the minimum wage would help the lives of working
Americans and help his life as well.
She said that even working full-time, 50 weeks a year, a minimum
wage employee earns just $14,300 a year. The Department of Labor
and Workforce Development does not have a breakdown of the
gender of minimum wage workers, but they do know that certain
professions generally pay minimum wage. Those professions
include childcare workers, retail sales clerks, housekeeping,
office clerks, and food service workers. These professions are
dominated by women. For instance, she said nearly 60 percent of
retail clerks, 80 percent of clerks and 78 percent of waiters
and waitresses are women. Increasing the minimum wage will help
them all with a better standard of living.
MS. SPANYERS said the reasons for the gender difference aren't
entirely clear. The September 2003 "Alaska Economic Trends"
speculated on a few reasons. They include career choices,
differences in full-time versus part-time work, education and
training levels, years of experience and possibly
discrimination. There is no data to measure the wage rates,
hours worked and education level for individual workers by
gender, only by profession. However, one area is known to have
lower gender differences and that is with local government
employees. Women earn $.76 for every $1.00 a man earns by being
employed in state or local governments.
She said it's too early to tell how women workers will do under
the new defined contribution retirement system, but she asked
them to keep the following factors in mind when enacting public
policy. In general women earn less than men, invest more
conservatively and live longer. Women juggle many things in
their lives and usually take care of others before taking care
of themselves. It's unlikely that present salaries in the female
dominated professions from administrative assistants to
paraprofessionals will ever allow them enough to save for their
retirement.
In conclusion, she said there are differences between men and
women wage earners and it might not be easy crafting a one-size
fits all policy for all groups. However, she encouraged them to
imagine a variety of work that people do every day in both the
private and public sectors. She thanked them for taking the time
today to explore this very important issue to Alaskans.
2:06:01 PM
SENATOR BUNDE asked if the federal minimum wage law excluded
America Samoa along with the Marianna Islands that do a lot of
fish processing.
MS. SPANYERS replied her understanding is that it wasn't
included.
SENATOR BUNDE said he knows that some wait staff make really
substantial tips. He asked if there had been any thought put
into putting an upper limit on tips so that anything above a
certain amount would be considered part of a salary.
MS. SPANYERS replied she hadn't had those discussions.
2:07:26 PM
SENATOR DAVIS asked if her figures for women's wages were state
or national.
MS. SPANYERS replied the figures were from the Alaska Department
of Labor and Workforce Development.
CHAIR ELLIS asked if she had an update of what is happening in
Congress and was the minimum wage bill still in the Senate.
MS. SPANYERS said she didn't know the status.
2:09:50 PM
ROBIN SMITH, Arctic Wire Rope & Supply, said one of the problems
she knows about as a business owner with less than 15 employees
is that it's very expensive to offer insurance to the employees
for some sort of reasonable rate. She suggested allowing small
companies to pool together to spread the risk among a broader
group of people. Possibly more businesses would cover their
employees if insurance wasn't so expensive.
CHAIR ELLIS asked what she thought about mandatory health
insurance coverage with incentives and penalties for businesses
of various sizes to provide health insurance - like what is
happening in California and Massachusetts.
MS. SMITH said that mandates are difficult because people have a
lot of resentment about being told by government what to do.
Small business would claim it would put them out of business. If
the cost of insurance could be lowered and incentives were
created to encourage formation of insurance pools, that would be
a better way to handle it.
2:12:52 PM
SENATOR DAVIS said she remembers legislation on business pools
for insurance coming before the legislature. She also mentioned
that she thought a bill had already been introduced on this
subject.
CHAIR ELLIS said he and Senator Davis, who chairs the HESS
Committee, have had preliminary discussions about a joint
hearing to listen to business people from various-sized
organizations talk about what is going on in the insurance
marketplace and problems with providing insurance. Everybody
else in the industrialized world has figured it out and it's
hard for U.S. businesses to compete in that environment.
2:16:14 PM
BRENDA STANFIELD, Alaska Network on Domestic Violence and Sexual
Assault, Fairbanks, urged the committee to consider what social
service people are paid and that in 1988 she paid a college
graduate $11.70 an hour and provided some health insurance, but
19 years later, they are still getting paid $11.70 an hour and
now instead of being offered full health care, they have to pay
a portion of its cost and their children are no longer insured.
A lot of changes happened, but they are being faced with a high
employee turnover and not being able to hire people. She said
the cost of living in Alaska has dramatically increased over the
past years.
SENATOR BUNDE invited her to join them in their quest to
maintain some quality of life and share some budget realities.
He said the state will likely be in a deficit in two years at
current spending.
Unless until, I think, the public makes some serious
decisions about using some of the earnings of the
Permanent Fund, we're going to be in some deep
trouble. Because I don't think we can tax our way -
many people say well we want a tax first - but I don't
think we can take that much money out of the economy
and not do some very negative things. But yet we have
$1 billion a year in excess earnings that we could
access if the general public will support that notion.
The plan has been around for years where we would use
a portion of the earnings to support state services
and still have a substantial dividend. But we're going
to need your help.
CHAIR ELLIS asked her to comment on the state of child care in
the Fairbanks area.
MS. STANFIELD replied that child care is very difficult
especially for infants; it's very expensive - about $800 a child
and there are not enough providers.
CHAIR ELLIS thanked everyone very much for making the effort to
with them in Juneau. He said the committee was open to her
suggestions. He adjourned the meeting at 2:21:45 PM.
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