HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.C.R. NO.66          
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND CONSUMER AFFAIRS TO
   CONDUCT A STUDY AND TO TAKE ACTION TO PROHIBIT
   DISCRIMINATORY PRICING PRACTICES IN THE PROVISION OF
   SERVICES.



 1       WHEREAS, every person should be charged the same price for
 2   the same service, or surcharged equally for an identical extra
 3   service, irrespective of gender; and
 4   
 5       WHEREAS, existing laws prohibit any business from
 6   discriminating against any person based on gender; and
 7   
 8       WHEREAS, charging different prices for services or goods
 9   that are the same or similar in nature based on a consumer's
10   gender constitutes a form of discrimination; and
11   
12       WHEREAS, disparate pricing for services or goods that are
13   the same or similar in nature most often affects women; and
14   
15       WHEREAS, while prices for services should only vary if a
16   service takes longer or is more difficult to provide, women are
17   often charged more for services or goods by certain types of
18   businesses, such as salons, dry cleaners, and clothing
19   alterations based on gender stereotypes, not actual labor
20   costs; and
21   
22       WHEREAS, a 1996 City Council survey in New York City
23   provided strong evidence that gender-based price discrimination
24   existed in haircutting, dry cleaning, and clothing alterations
25   finding that:
26   
27       (1)  Out of 199 haircutters surveyed, 48 percent charged
28            women more than men for a basic haircut, making the
29            average price of a woman's haircut 19 percent more
30            than a man's haircut; 
31   
32       (2)  Women paid, on average, 190 percent more than men for
33            having the waist of a pair of suit pants taken in one
34            inch at twenty-four major clothing retailers surveyed;
35            and

 
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 1       (3)  Women paid, on average, 13.5 percent more than men to
 2            have shirts dry cleaned;
 3   
 4   and
 5   
 6       WHEREAS, a 1997 investigation conducted by the
 7   Massachusetts' Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG) found
 8   that:
 9   
10       (1)  88 percent of dry cleaners surveyed charge women more
11            than men to dry clean or launder a cotton shirt;
12   
13       (2)  Of the dry cleaners that were found to discriminate in
14            the survey, women were charged an average of 53
15            percent more than men to have a shirt laundered, and
16            47 percent more to have a shirt dry cleaned, and that
17            in some cases, women were charged three times the
18            price men were charged for the same service;
19   
20       (3)  56 percent of hair salons surveyed charged women an
21            average of 31 percent more for a basic shampoo, hair
22            cut, and blow dry than men;
23   
24       (4)  70 percent of hair salons that were found to charge
25            different prices defended their gender discrimination
26            even after the surveyer explained that a man's hair
27            cut could be more complicated than a woman's haircut;
28            and
29   
30       (5)  Only 33 percent of retailers surveyed posted or made
31            available their prices in writing;
32   
33   and
34   
35       WHEREAS, a 1991 Massachusetts Attorney General's Report
36   proved that common excuses used by dry cleaners for illegal
37   gender-based pricing practices were invalid, demonstrating, for
38   example:
39   
40       (1)  When dry cleaners claimed that women's shirts required
41            hand pressing because they did not fit the standard
42            body presses used for shirts, their claim was proven
43            untrue when investigators brought women's shirts as
44            small as an untapered size six to ordinary commercial
45            launderers, who pressed them in the same way the
46            launderers press men's shirts, without extra labor;
47            and
48   

 
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 1       (2)  When dry cleaners claimed that women's blouses could
 2            not be pressed on a standard press because any
 3            ornamentation on the shirt precluded their use,
 4            investigators found shirts as fancy as men's pleated
 5            tuxedo shirts were pressed on a standard body press;
 6   
 7   and 
 8   
 9       WHEREAS, while not every business uses discriminatory
10   pricing practices, gender pricing continues to exist and costs
11   women extra money every year; and 
12   
13       WHEREAS, according to the U.S. Department of  Labor, Bureau
14   of Labor Statistics, full-time women workers in Hawaii make
15   approximately 82.4 cents for every dollar earned by men
16   workers, thus causing women to suffer the double indignity of
17   both earning less at work and paying more for services or goods
18   that are the same or similar in nature to services or goods
19   provided to men; now, therefore,
20   
21       BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
22   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
23   of 1999, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Commerce
24   and Consumer Affairs (DCCA), in conjunction with the
25   Legislative Reference Bureau, is requested to conduct a study
26   regarding discriminatory pricing practices by persons,
27   partnerships, firms, corporations, or other entities engaged in
28   business within the State, and to take action to prohibit
29   discriminatory pricing practices in the provision of services
30   to consumers based on race, creed, color, national origin, age,
31   gender, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or
32   alienage or citizenship status of such consumers; and 
33   
34       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, for purposes of its study,
35   DCCA shall not consider as discriminatory:
36   
37       (1)  Price differences based on the amount of time,
38            difficulty, or cost of providing services as
39            discriminatory; and
40   
41       (2)  Laws related to health and safety or insurance;
42   
43   and
44   
45       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that DCCA is requested to report on
46   its findings and actions it has taken to prohibit
47   discriminatory pricing practices to the Legislature no later
48   than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session
49   of 2000; and
50   

 
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 1       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
 2   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of
 3   Commerce and Consumer Affairs, the Director of the Legislative
 4   Reference Bureau, the Attorney General, the Hawaii Civil Rights
 5   Commission, and the Hawaii Chamber of Commerce.
 6 
 7 
 8 
 9                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________