04/03/2012 08:00 AM House STATE AFFAIRS

            SB  53-COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
9:53:50 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR LYNN announced that the final  order of business was CS FOR                                                               
SENATE  BILL  NO.  53(FIN), "An  Act  reestablishing  the  Alaska                                                               
Commission on  the Status of  Women; and relating to  the purpose                                                               
and powers of the Alaska Human Relations Commission."                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
9:54:11 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
CELESTE  HODGE,   Staff,  Senator  Bettye  Davis,   Alaska  State                                                               
Legislature,  presented  SB  53   on  behalf  of  Senator  Davis,                                                               
sponsor.   She  stated that  SB 53  would reestablish  the Alaska                                                               
Commission on the Status of  Women, a nine-member body devoted to                                                               
improving the  status of  women in  Alaska, established  in 1978,                                                               
renewed and  renamed The Alaska  Women's Commission in  1983, and                                                               
absorbed into  the Alaska Human  Relations Commission  along with                                                               
Alaska Commission  on Children  and Youth.   She said  the Alaska                                                               
Human  Relations  Commission still  exists  in  statute, but  was                                                               
never funded  and was declared  inactive in 1996.   She continued                                                               
as follows:                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
     Staggering  statistics for  women  in  Alaska show  the                                                                    
     need  to establish  the  Alaska  Women's Commission  to                                                                    
     focus on  a broad  and diverse cross-section  of issues                                                                    
     effecting  women.   ... Alaska  continues  to have  the                                                                    
     highest rates  of sexual assault and  domestic violence                                                                    
     in the  nation and  historically women are  more likely                                                                    
     to  be  poor than  men.    Poverty rates  of  unmarried                                                                    
     female  householders  with  children  are  particularly                                                                    
     high and have ... consistently  been two or three times                                                                    
     as high  as overall  male and  female poverty  rates in                                                                    
     1996.                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
     Survey data  compiled by the American  Community Survey                                                                    
     shows that of  26,518 families in Alaska  with a female                                                                    
     head of household, 22.6 percent  live below the poverty                                                                    
     level.   The  gender wage  gap persists  in Alaska  and                                                                    
     across a  wide spectrum of occupations  and industries.                                                                    
     In 2009,  according to [the Alaska  Department of Labor                                                                    
     &  Workforce  Development],  Alaska  women  on  average                                                                    
     earned  only 66.6  percent  of what  men  earned.   And                                                                    
     although  more   women  than  men  in   Alaska  hold  a                                                                    
     bachelor's  degree or  higher,  data  shows that  men's                                                                    
     median annual earnings are higher in every educational                                                                     
     level.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
     Alaskan  ...  women,  in  particular  women  of  color,                                                                    
     experience  health care  disparities, and  women living                                                                    
     in rural Alaska have  worse than average disparities on                                                                    
     access and  utilization of services.   These statistics                                                                    
     speak  for themselves  and fully  justify  the need  to                                                                    
     reestablish the Alaska Women's Commission.                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
9:57:08 AM                                                                                                                    
                                                                                                                                
JUDITH  VAUGHAN-PRATHER,  Member,  Board of  Directors,  National                                                               
Association   of  Commissions   on  Women;   Executive  Director,                                                               
Montgomery County  Commission for  Women, testified on  behalf of                                                               
the National  Association of  Commissions on  Women (NACW).   She                                                               
said NACW commends  the legislature for addressing  the issue and                                                               
Senator Davis  for sponsoring  SB 53.   She  said NACW  urges the                                                               
passage of SB  53, which would reestablish  the Alaska Commission                                                               
on  the  Status of  Women  and  provide  both staffing  and  some                                                               
funding  to  ensure the  commission  is  able  to carry  out  its                                                               
mandate.                                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
MS.  VAUGHAN-PRATHER   relayed  that  there  are   close  to  200                                                               
commissions  for women  and commissions  on the  status of  women                                                               
around the  country at the  state, county,  and city level.   She                                                               
said  the  commissions  are  distinguished  from  other  advocacy                                                               
organizations  and   each  commission   is  established   by  the                                                               
jurisdiction it serves as an  advisory board to the government of                                                               
that state  or county.   She said  commissions for women  are the                                                               
governments'  way  of  assuring  that  the  needs  of  women  are                                                               
identified and  addressed in bodies that  are largely constituted                                                               
by men.   She related having  found out that in  the Alaska State                                                               
Legislature, only 9 of the 40  members of the House are women and                                                               
only 3 of  the members of the Senate are  women, despite the fact                                                               
that   of   Alaska's   total   number   of   females   constitute                                                               
approximately 48 of the general population of the state.                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
MS. VAUGHAN-PRATHER said  that when the voice of  almost half the                                                               
population is  omitted from the  discussion, important  and often                                                               
critical implications  can exist.   For  example, she  said until                                                               
this  year car  manufacturers  and the  regulating agencies  used                                                               
crash test  dummies that were the  size and weight of  an average                                                               
man;  it  never  occurred  to   them  to  design  vehicle  safety                                                               
standards that  would protect the  other half of  the population.                                                               
She  said   there  is  documentation,  including   the  sponsor's                                                               
statement,   which  highlights   other   inequities  that   occur                                                               
nationwide.                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
MS. VAUGHAN-PRATHER  said SB  53 proposes  to create  an advisory                                                               
board  with a  staff of  three  at a  total cost  of $515,400  in                                                               
fiscal  year 2013  (FY13),  with the  cost  decreasing in  future                                                               
years after  the start-up  costs are  eliminated.   The [initial]                                                               
budget represents  an investment of  only about $1.50  per female                                                               
in Alaska.   She posited, "Surely that would be  money well spent                                                               
and a tiny cost  to pay to ensure that their  very real needs are                                                               
not overlooked."   She  stated that NACW  urges the  committee to                                                               
pass  SB  53, and  she  offered  the  support of  its  collective                                                               
membership and experience to help  the staff and commissioners of                                                               
the Alaska  commission, so that  they can "begin  again providing                                                               
informed, balanced, and valuable advice  to the government and to                                                               
the people of your state."                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                
10:01:38 AM                                                                                                                   
                                                                                                                                
CHAIR LYNN announced that SB 53 was held over.