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Information provided by State Representative
Marilyn Lee
NOT FOR OURSELVES ALONE
Women's Legislative Caucus
The theme of our year 2000 package,
"NOT FOR OURSELVES ALONE," is taken from the title of a film documenting the lives of two famous
women, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton who were pioneers in the Women's
Suffrage Movement. As a result of their efforts the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in
1920, guaranteeing women the right to vote.
To commemorate the 80th anniversary of
women's suffrage, we dedicate this package to these women, and the many others who
improved the quality of life for many Americans by organizing meetings, marches and
protests; travelling coast-to-coast speaking, writing, and listening; and suffering
hostility and ridicule because they believed that equality is the birthright of every
woman.
Members of the Women's Legislative
Caucus:
"Men have been faithful in noting
every heroic act of their half of the race, and now it should be the duty as well as the
pleasure of women to make for future generations a record of the heroic duty of the other
half." Susan B.
Anthony, Women's Suffrage Activist
The Women's Legislative Caucus is made
up of all the women in the House and Senate of the State of Hawaii and is bi-partisan in
nature. The caucus itself does not include men, but we welcome the participation and
support of our male colleagues.
The bills which have been included in
our package have been suggested by several groups in the community including The Hawaii
Women's Coalition; The Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Sisters Offering
Support; individual legislators, and others.
Recognizing and taking action to achieve
the economic and social potential of each woman in Hawaii is the ultimate goal of our
effort. Through this achievement we hope to improve the quality of life "not for
ourselves alone" but also for our families and communities. However, we need the help
of everyone to obtain this vision.
Please join us as we endorse an agenda
to secure women's economic self-sufficiency, the opportunity for entrepreneurship,
improvement of health and security, and a balance between family and work. In addition, we
commit ourselves to the concepts of prevention, early intervention, and rehabilitation.
"As our country faces its greatest
period of sustained prosperity, it is very important that women come together and work to
ensure that women and their families at all levels have the opportunity to experience this
prosperity too." Lina Frescas Dobbs,
Executive Director, Wider Opportunities for Women.
ECONOM IC SELF-SUFFICIENCY AND
ENTREPRENESURSHIP
- Individual Development Account (IDA) Tax
Credit - This proposal provides for a non-refundable
income tax credit of 50% of the amount contributed by individuals, organizations, and
business to IDAs. Any excess credits may be applied to subsequent years until exhausted.
The credit shall be allowed for a five-year period (i.e. tax years 2000-2004).
(Legislation supporting and enabling IDAs was passed during the last session.)
- Living Wage - In our community, many women (and men) are concerned about making enough money
to support their families. This bill seeks to increase the wages paid to employees.
Employers who contract for services with the state or county will be required to pay a
"living wage" of not less than $7.25 per hour with health benefits, or otherwise
$9.50 per hour. Employers who contract with the state or county should pay the wage needed
to allow their employees to live without government assistance.
- Earned Income Tax Credit - The purpose of this bill is to create an Earned Income Tax Credit
to provide additional assistance to welfare recipients entering the work force and other
workers supporting their families on low wages. Hawaii would join eleven other states
currently offering some kind of EITC using Federal Eligibility Criteria.
- Welfare -
The purpose of this bill is to establish a fair and equitable standard for Hawaii's cash
assistance to needy families program by changing the date of the poverty determination
from 1993 to the current poverty level, as determined by the Federal government.
- Employment Discrimination - The purpose of this bill is to make it an unlawful discriminatory
practice for employers to require applicants and current employees, as a condition of
employment, to agree to give up the rights, protections, or remedies provided by the state
employment discrimination laws.
- Pay Equity
- The purpose of these bills is to:establish a pilot, four-year Fair Pay Project for all
permanent, full-time state employees to parallel components of the Fair Pay Actand, and
provide pay equity (HB 624, SB 820 existing from last year) to prohibits wage
discrimination due to sex, race, and national origin, (Establishes exemptions. Defines
terms. Establishes employer record-keeping requirements. Grants rulemaking authority to
the director of labor and industrial relations.)
"As primary caregivers, women's
health affects not only their minds and bodies but also the lives and health of those
around them...by investing in women's well being, we can improve the quality of life for
women of all ages." Donna Shalala,
Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
HEALTH
- Long Term Care - The purpose of this bill is to extend the timing of the completion of the
actuarial study on long term care from November 15, 1999 until November 15, 2001; change
the expiration date of the Joint Legislative Committee on Long Term Care from June 30,
2000 to June 30, 2002; and to clarify requirements for the actuarial study.
- Elder Abuse - The purpose of this bill is to require criminal background checks for workers
providing services and having access to adult residential care home patients and patients
in nursing facilities.
- Health Care Decisions - The purpose of this bill is to amend Chapter 327E-13, HRS by
repealing provisions which exclude the designation of a surrogate decision maker for a
pregnant woman and exclude the execution of a pregnant woman's living will or durable
power of attorney for health care.
"Our goal is to work with
legislators in the development and passage of legislation that protects and empowers
victims of partner abuse and makes batterers more accountable for their crimes."
Danelle Myron, Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence
SECURITY
- Chapter 709-906 Abuse of Family or Household
Member - Improvements to Chapter 709-906 would include
creating three degrees of offenses; first degree a class C felony, second degree a
misdemeanor, and third degree a petty misdemeanor. Currently there is only one degree, a
misdemeanor. These proposed changes would give jurors and judges more options when
charging offenders and would help solve two problems commonly experienced in the criminal
courtroom: perpetrators being found not guilty and perpetrators pleading guilty to less
serious offenses. The proposed changes would also result in fewer jury trials and more
convictions.
- Chapter 586 Civil Protection Orders and
Chapter 580 Divorce Orders - Improvements to the civil
protection order chapters would conform existing protective order/temporary restraining
order statutes to make them more consistent and less confusing. In addition the definition
of "family and household member" would be expanded to include persons who have
or have had a "dating relationship." The improvements would also eliminate the
distinction between domestic and non-domestic violations of court orders.
- Resolution Supporting the Creation of a
Domestic Violence Court - Encourages the creation of a
Domestic Violence Division within the State Judiciary.
- Revision of HRS 571-46(9) "Procedure in
Awarding Custody and Visitation" - Requires judges
to make written findings for their decisions when children are awarded to a parent with a
history of domestic violence.
- Access to Information for Victims of
Domestic Violence - Bill revises confidentiality
statutes to permit probation officers to inform victims when the perpetrators violate
terms of probation.
- Probation Officers Access to Family Court
Files - Allows probation officers to obtain the
information they need to inform victims by having access to family court records.
- Firearms: Protective Orders - Repeals good cause exemption for possession of firearms by a
person who is the subject of a restraining order.
- 48-Hour Hold - For purposes of crisis intervention, extends the time period a person may be
held after bond to 48-hours.
- Special Training of Paramedics - Special training is needed to enable emergency service personnel
to recognize the special needs of domestic violence victims.
- Resolution on Special Training of Paramedics - This resolution urges the development of protocols and the
special training of paramedics in the treatment of domestic violence patients.
- Bill on Special Training of Paramedics - The purpose of the bill is to appropriate funds to department of
emergency services to develop protocols and training for paramedics in treating domestic
violence victims.
- Domestic Violence - The purpose of this bill is to create a petty misdemeanor penalty when a
person knowingly interrupts, disrupts, impedes, interferes with, prevents or hinders the
reporting of a crime, or the placing of a call to 911, emergency medical services, or
state or federal law enforcement.
"ALL THE ISSUES OF THE WORLD ARE
WOMEN'S ISSUES, and we have to be ready to move forward so that we are helping to create a
society in which we have not just law and order, but equality and justice." Dr. Dorothy
Height, Chair of the Board, National Council of Negro Women.
PREVENTION, EARLY INTERVENTION AND
REHABILITATION
- Healthy Start - This resolution supports the continued existence and expansion of the Healthy
Start Program.
- Substance Abuse Treatment and Education - This measure creates a commission to review and determine how
substance abuse treatment funds are to be allocated to meet the substance abuse treatment
needs of the people in the State of Hawaii. This measure creates a special fund to contain
new monies generated from tax, alcohol, and other sources of increased revenue for the
purpose of substance abuse treatment and after care.
- Good Beginnings Alliance - This bill makes an appropriation for the Good Beginnings Alliance
and strongly supports the purpose of "Good Beginnings."
- Women in Prisons
- Parity for Women Prisoners -Requests that women prisoners be provided with gender-specific
programming and establishes a task force to deal with the developmental needs of
incarcerated women.
- Tracking the Progress of the Children of
Incarcerated Women - Asks the Department of Human
Services to document the progress of the children of incarcerated women.
- Encouraging Community-Based Services for
Incarcerated Women - Asks that women prisoners be
transitioned back into community-based settings in Hawaii because of the strong
correlation between their paths to criminality and those of their children.
- Sexual Trafficking
- Resolution on Sexual Trafficking - This resolution supports federal efforts to stop the sexual and
labor trafficking of women around the world.
- Commercial Sexual Exploitation of a Minor - This bill establishes commercial sexual exploitation of a minor
as a class B offense.
- Continuing Therapy for Pedophiles - Requires persons convicted of sex offenses against children to
obtain psychiatric or psychological therapy upon the completion of their terms of
imprisonment.
OTHERS
- Constant Verbal Abuse - Allows a person to use force in self defense against a family or
household member when the person reasonably believes that such force is immediately
necessary for protection against imminent physical abuse as a result of a pattern of
extreme psychological abuse or the actor's reasonably held cultural beliefs.
- Restriction on Parental Discipline - This bill seeks to restrict parental discipline by not allowing a
parent to strike the head or neck of a child. This bill would continue to allow reasonable
parental discipline of a child.
"Women are poised to shape
American values publicly on a scale to which they have never before had access. Much is
riding on whether or how they choose to lead." Dr. Constance
Buchanan, Program Officer, Ford Foundation.
"Men have been running Hawaii (and
the world, for that matter) throughout the 1900s, with mixed results and and incredibly
low tolerance for change. The 21st Century can only be enhanced if "the other
half" of the population participates and actively joins in the leading, especially
with all that needs to be accomplished." Diane Chang, "21st
Century Hawaii: 210 Ways to Get There/Bright Ideas From the Next Generation of Island
Leaders".
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