HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	149
TWENTY-NINTH LEGISLATURE, 2018
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

Requesting the Department of Accounting and General Services to dedicate one private room in the Hawaii State Capitol building for employees and visitors to breastfeed or express milk.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Academy of Family Physicians, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, World Health Organization, and many other health organizations recommend that infants be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life and continue to be breastfed until 12 months of age or longer as mutually desired; and

 

     WHEREAS, women who give birth in Hawaii are likely to continue breastfeeding eight weeks after delivery; and

 

     WHEREAS, federal and Hawaii law require employers to provide reasonable break time and a location, other than a bathroom, for employees to express breast milk; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii's employment practices law prohibits employers and labor organizations from refusing to hire or employ, barring or discharging from employment, withholding pay from, demoting, or penalizing a lactating employee because the employee breastfeeds or expresses milk at the workplace; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 2011, the United States Surgeon General's Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding identified barriers to optimal breastfeeding in health care practices, employment, communities, research, public health infrastructure, and social networks, and recommended methods in which families, communities, employers, and health care professionals may help eliminate those barriers to improve breastfeeding rates and increase support for breastfeeding; and

     WHEREAS, research shows that breast milk and breastfeeding provide advantages with regard to general health, growth, and development while significantly decreasing the risk of a large number of acute and chronic diseases such as sudden infant death syndrome, asthma, allergies, diabetes, viral and bacterial infections, childhood obesity, childhood leukemia, necrotizing enterocolitis, and infant mortality; and

 

     WHEREAS, mothers who breastfeed have a decreased risk of breast, uterine, and ovarian cancer; postpartum depression; and osteoporosis later in life; and

 

     WHEREAS, the nutrients exclusive to breast milk are vital to the growth, development, and maintenance of the human brain and cannot be manufactured; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service estimates that at least $3,600,000,000 would be saved if the rate of mothers breastfeeding in-hospital and at six months increased to 75 and 50 percent, respectively; and

 

     WHEREAS, breastfeeding has positive economic impacts on families by decreasing the need to pay for medical care for a sick infant and eliminating the need to purchase infant formula; and

 

     WHEREAS, the health benefits of breastfeeding result in lower health care costs for employers, less time-off for employees to care for sick children, and higher productivity and employee loyalty; and

 

     WHEREAS, employers, employees, and society benefit from supporting a mother’s decision to breastfeed and from reducing the obstacles to initiating and continuing breastfeeding; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Legislature recognizes the unique health, economic, and societal benefits that breastfeeding provides to infants, mothers, families, and the community as a whole and affirms that the State of Hawaii should work to ensure that barriers to the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding are removed; and

     WHEREAS, the Legislature encourages employers to strongly support and encourage breastfeeding by striving to provide appropriate space and time accommodations to allow employees to express milk; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-ninth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2018, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Accounting and General Services is requested to dedicate one private room in the Hawaii State Capitol Building for employees and visitors to breastfeed or express milk; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the room be dedicated to Dr. Sylvia Pager who was the first International Board-Certified Lactation Consultant Physician in Hawaii and worked to support and protect breastfeeding families in Hawaii; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, State Comptroller, and Building Manager of the State Capitol Building.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Breastfeeding; Express Breast Milk; Capitol