2015
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 15-1021
       
       BY REPRESENTATIVE(S) Pettersen and Danielson, Arndt, Becker
       K., Buckner, Court, Duran, Esgar, Fields, Foote, Garnett, Hamner,
       Kraft-Tharp, Lebsock, Lee, Lontine, McCann, Melton, Mitsch Bush,
       Moreno, Primavera, Rosenthal, Roupe, Ryden, Salazar, Singer,
       Tyler, Vigil, Young, Hullinghorst;
       also SENATOR(S) Donovan and Todd, Aguilar, Carroll, Garcia,
       Guzman, Heath, Hodge, Jahn, Johnston, Jones, Kefalas, Kerr,
       Merrifield, Newell, Steadman, Ulibarri.
       
          CONCERNING THE DESIGNATION OF APRIL 14, 2015, AS
       "EQUAL PAY DAY" IN COLORADO, AND, IN CONNECTION
       THEREWITH, ACKNOWLEDGING THE PERSISTING
       PROBLEM OF WAGE DISPARITY AMONG VARIOUS GROUPS. 
       
          WHEREAS, Fifty-two years after the passage of the "Equal Pay Act
       of 1963" and Title VII of the "Civil Rights Act", women and communities
       of color continue to suffer the consequences of inequitable pay
       differentials; and
       
          WHEREAS, According to numbers released in 2014 by the U.S.
       Bureau of Labor Statistics, year-round, full-time working women in 2014
       earned only 80% of the earnings of year-round, full-time working men,
       only a 1% increase since 2011, indicating little change or progress in pay
       equity; and
       
          WHEREAS, In 2013, women who worked in Washington, D.C., had
       the smallest wage gap, earning 91% of the average amount earned by men
       who work in Washington, D.C.; and
       
          
       
       
       
       
          WHEREAS, Over 135,000 households in Colorado are headed by
       women, and nationally about 40% of employed mothers are the sole
       breadwinners for their families; and
       
          WHEREAS, According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2013,
       the wage gap was discernible not only by sex but also by race and
       ethnicity, with Asian women earning 90% as much as white men,
       followed by white women, black women, and Latinas who earned 78%,
       64%, and 54%, respectively, of the earnings of white men; and
       
          WHEREAS, Earning disparities among women and men of each race
       were the most pronounced for white and Asian women, who earned 81%
       and 73%, respectively, as much as their white and Asian male
       counterparts, while black and Latina women had median earnings that
       were 90% and 88%, respectively, of those of their black and Latino male
       counterparts; and
       
          WHEREAS, Black and Latino men also experience disparities when
       their pay is compared to that of white men, with black men earning 76%
       and Latino men earning 67% as much as white men; and
       
          WHEREAS, As women get older, the pay gap widens significantly:
       According to the American Association of University Women, one year
       after graduating college, women earn only 82% of what their male
       counterparts earn, and ten years after graduation, women earn only
       75-80% of what men earn; and
       
          WHEREAS, In 2012, 36% of women and 37% of men were parents
       of children under age 18 and, among women, median weekly earnings for
       mothers of children under age 18 were $680, whereas the earnings for
       women without children under 18 were $697; but the reverse is true
       among men, for whom the median weekly earnings for fathers with
       children under 18 were $946, compared with $799 for men without
       children under 18; and
       
          
       
       
       
       
       
          WHEREAS, Over a working lifetime, wage disparities cost the
       average woman and her family an estimated $431,000 in lost wages, also
       impacting Social Security benefits and pensions; and
       
          WHEREAS, Fair pay equity policies can be implemented simply and
       without undue costs or hardship in both the public and private sectors;
       and
       
          WHEREAS, There exists a strong business and public interest case for
       pay equity; and
       
          WHEREAS, Fair pay strengthens the security of families today and
       eases future retirement costs while enhancing the American economy; and
       
          WHEREAS, Tuesday, April 14, 2015, symbolizes the time in the new
       year in which the wages paid to American women catch up to the wages
       paid to men from the previous year; now, therefore,
       
          Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the Seventieth
       General Assembly of the State of Colorado, the Senate concurring herein:
          
          That we, the members of the Colorado General Assembly:
       
          (1)  Proclaim Tuesday, April 14, 2015, to be "Equal Pay Day" in the
       state of Colorado; and
       
          
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
          (2)  Urge governmental agencies, nonprofit and labor organizations,
       businesses, and individuals to take steps to implement fair pay equity
       policies to help close the pay gap for Colorado's women and minorities.
       
          Be It Further Resolved, That a copy of this Joint Resolution be sent to
       the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.
       
       
       
       
       
       _________________________________________________________
       Dickey Lee Hullinghorst               Bill L. Cadman
       SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE                    PRESIDENT OF
       OF REPRESENTATIVES                        THE SENATE
       
       
       
       
       ____________________________  ____________________________
       Marilyn Eddins                     Cindi L. Markwell
       CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE                SECRETARY OF
       OF REPRESENTATIVES                        THE SENATE