STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2520

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2560

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Labor, Culture and the Arts and Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 2560 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require state departments and agencies to:

(1) Establish hiring and promotion goals for position-qualified transgender and non-binary persons by January 1, 2023;

(2) Develop transgender employment policies addressing specified areas by January 1, 2023, to promote inclusive, safe workplaces that respect gender identity; and

(3) Submit annual reports to the Legislature.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i Civil Rights Commission, Hawai‘i State Commission on the Status of Women, Hawai‘i Health & Harm Reduction Center, Hawaii Women's Coalition, and fifteen individuals. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committees find that state law governing employment practices prohibits discrimination based on sex, including gender identity, gender expression, and sexual orientation. Your Committees find, however, that there is an undeniable gap between the law and reality--the sexual and gender minority population has historically been and continues to be subject to unequal treatment in employment. Your Committees also acknowledge that the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has had a disparate impact on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer individuals. Your Committees find that this measure takes a proactive approach to correct the decade-long effects of unequal treatment by ensuring that sexual and gender minority individuals have access to equal employment opportunities.

Your Committees note the testimony of the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission raising concerns over arguments that remedial affirmative action policies are violative of the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Your Committees also note the testimony of the Department of Human Services stating that the Department and Department of Transportation have adopted affirmative action policies in consideration of such issues. To develop a Transgender Employment Policy that is uniformly applicable and narrowly tailored to effectuate the intent of this measure, your Committees believe that the task should be assigned to the Department of Human Resources Development rather than have each state department and agency individually develop their own policies.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring the Department of Human Resources Development to:

(A) Establish its hiring and promotion goals for position-qualified transgender and non-binary persons by January 1, 2024;

(B) Develop the State's Transgender Employment Policy addressing specified areas by January 1, 2024, to promote inclusive, safe workplaces that respect gender identity; and

(C) Submit annual reports to the Legislature on the progress towards meeting its hiring goal before the convening of the Regular Sessions of 2025 and 2026;

(2) Inserting an unspecified appropriation amount;

(3) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

Your Committees request that the Department of Human Resources Development review the affirmative action policies adopted by the Department of Human Services and Department of Transportation in developing transgender employment policies for the State.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Labor, Culture and the Arts and Government Operations that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2560, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2560, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Labor, Culture and the Arts and Government Operations,

________________________________ SHARON MORIWAKI, Chair

________________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair