HOUSE BILL 207

56th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2023

INTRODUCED BY

Kristina Ortez and Andrea Romero and Carrie Hamblen

and Peter Wirth and Linda Serrato

 

 

 

 

AN ACT

RELATING TO HUMAN RIGHTS; EXTENDING THE SCOPE OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS ACT TO APPLY TO CERTAIN ACTIONS OF THE STATE AND ITS POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS AND PUBLIC CONTRACTORS; EXPANDING THE LIST OF PROTECTED CLASSES TO INCLUDE GENDER; MAKING TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 28-1-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1969, Chapter 196, Section 2, as amended by Laws 2021, Chapter 19, Section 3 and by Laws 2021, Chapter 37, Section 3) is amended to read:

     "28-1-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Human Rights Act:

          A. "person" means one or more individuals, a partnership, association, organization, corporation, joint venture, legal representative, trustees, receivers, or the state and all of its political subdivisions;

          B. "employer" means any person employing four or more persons and any person acting for an employer;

          C. "commission" means the human rights commission;

          D. "director" or "bureau" means the human rights bureau of the labor relations division of the workforce solutions department;

          E. "employee" means any person in the employ of an employer or an applicant for employment;

          F. "labor organization" means any organization that exists for the purpose in whole or in part of collective bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or conditions of employment or of other mutual aid or protection in connection with employment;

          G. "employment agency" means any person regularly undertaking with or without compensation to procure opportunities to work or to procure, recruit or refer employees;

          H. "public accommodation" means any governmental entity or any establishment that provides or offers its services, facilities, accommodations or goods to the public, but does not include a bona fide private club or other place or establishment that is by its nature and use distinctly private;

          I. "public contractor" means a person who receives public funds as a result of contracting with a governmental entity;

          J. "political subdivision" means any:

                (1) county;

                (2) incorporated city, town or village;

                (3) drainage, conservancy, irrigation, water and sanitation or other district;

                (4) mutual domestic association;

                (5) public water cooperative association; or

                (6) community ditch association;

          [I.] K. "housing accommodation" means any building or portion of a building that is constructed or to be constructed, which is used or intended for use as the residence or sleeping place of any individual;

          [J.] L. "real property" means lands, leaseholds or commercial or industrial buildings, whether constructed or to be constructed, offered for sale or rent, and any land rented or leased for the use, parking or storage of house trailers;

          [K.] M. "secretary" means the secretary of workforce solutions;

          [L.] N. "unlawful discriminatory practices" means those unlawful practices and acts specified in Section 28-1-7 NMSA 1978;

          [M.] O. "physical or mental [handicap] disability" means a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of a person's major life activities. A person is also considered to [be physically or mentally handicapped] have a mental or physical disability if the person has a record of a physical or mental [handicap] disability or is regarded as having a physical or mental [handicap] disability;

          [N.] P. "major life activities" means functions such as caring for one's self, performing manual tasks, walking, seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning and working;

          [O.] Q. "applicant for employment" means a person applying for a position as an employee;

          [P. "sexual orientation" means heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality, whether actual or perceived;

          Q. "gender identity" means a person's self-perception, or perception of that person by another, of the person's identity as a male or female based upon the person's appearance, behavior or physical characteristics that are in accord with or opposed to the person's physical anatomy, chromosomal sex or sex at birth;]

          R. "sex" means a person's categorization as male, female or intersex based on biology, physiology and physical characteristics;

          S. "sexual orientation" means a person's physical, romantic or emotional attraction to persons of the same or a different gender or the absence of any such attraction;

          T. "gender identity" means a person's self-perception, based on the person's appearance, behavior or physical characteristics, that the person exhibits more masculinity or femininity or the absence of masculinity or femininity whether or not it matches the person's gender or sex assigned at birth;

          U. "gender" means an individual or societal expectation or perception of a person as masculine or feminine based on appearance, behavior or physical characteristics;

          [R.] V. "reasonable accommodation" means modification or adaptation of the work environment, work schedule, work rules or job responsibilities, and reached through good faith efforts to explore less restrictive or less expensive alternatives to enable an employee to perform the essential functions of the job and that does not impose an undue hardship on the employer;

          [S.] W. "undue hardship" means an accommodation requiring significant difficulty or expense when considered in light of the following factors:

                (1) the nature and cost of the accommodation;

                (2) the financial resources of the employer involved in the provision of the reasonable accommodation;

                (3) the number of persons the employer employs;

                (4) the effect of the accommodation on

expenses and resources;

                (5) the impact of the accommodation otherwise upon the employer's business;

                (6) the overall financial resources of the employer;

                (7) the overall size of the business of an employer with respect to the number, type and location of its facilities;

                (8) the type of operation of the employer, including the composition, structure and functions of the workforce of the employer; or

                (9) the geographic separateness or administrative or fiscal relationship to the employer of the employer's facilities;

          [T.] X. "cultural or religious headdresses" includes hijabs, head wraps or other headdresses used as part of an individual's personal cultural or religious beliefs;

          [U.] Y. "protective hairstyles" includes such hairstyles as braids, locs, twists, tight coils or curls, cornrows, bantu knots, afros, weaves, wigs or head wraps; [and]

          [V.] Z. "race" includes traits historically associated with race, including hair texture, length of hair, protective hairstyles or cultural or religious headdresses;

          AA. "state" means the state of New Mexico or any of its agencies, departments, boards, instrumentalities or institutions;

          BB. "governmental entity" means the state or any local public body;

          CC. "public body" means a state or local government, an advisory board, a commission, an agency or an entity created by the constitution of New Mexico or any branch of government that receives public funding, including political subdivisions, special tax districts, school districts and institutions of higher education; and

          DD. "services" means any function, program, activity or benefit."

     SECTION 2. Section 28-1-7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1969, Chapter 196, Section 7, as amended) is amended to read:

     "28-1-7. UNLAWFUL DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICE.--It is an unlawful discriminatory practice for:

          A. an employer, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification or other statutory prohibition, to refuse to hire, to discharge, to promote or demote or to discriminate in matters of compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment against any person otherwise qualified because of race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, physical or mental [handicap] disability or serious medical condition, or, if the employer has fifty or more employees, spousal affiliation; provided, however, that 29 U.S.C. Section 631(c)(1) and (2) shall apply to discrimination based on age;

          B. a labor organization to exclude a person or to expel or otherwise discriminate against any of its members or against any employer or employee because of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, spousal affiliation, physical or mental [handicap] disability or serious medical condition;

          C. any employer, labor organization or joint apprenticeship committee to refuse to admit or employ any person in any program established to provide an apprenticeship or other training or retraining because of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, physical or mental [handicap] disability or serious medical condition, or, if the employer has fifty or more employees, spousal affiliation;

          D. any person, employer, employment agency or labor organization to print or circulate or cause to be printed or circulated any statement, advertisement or publication, to use any form of application for employment or membership or to make any inquiry regarding prospective membership or employment that expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification or discrimination as to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, physical or mental [handicap] disability or serious medical condition, or, if the employer has fifty or more employees, spousal affiliation, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification;

          E. an employment agency to refuse to list and properly classify for employment or refer a person for employment in a known available job, for which the person is otherwise qualified, because of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, spousal affiliation, physical or mental [handicap] disability or serious medical condition, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification, or to comply with a request from an employer for referral of applicants for employment if the request indicates, either directly or indirectly, that the employer discriminates in employment on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, spousal affiliation, physical or mental [handicap] disability or serious medical condition, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification;

          F. any person in any public accommodation to make a distinction, directly or indirectly, in offering or refusing to offer its services, facilities, accommodations or goods to any person because of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, spousal affiliation or physical or mental [handicap] disability; provided that the physical or mental [handicap] disability is unrelated to a person's ability to acquire or rent and maintain particular real property or housing accommodation;

          G. any person to:

                (1) refuse to sell, rent, assign, lease or sublease or offer for sale, rental, lease, assignment or sublease any housing accommodation or real property to any person or to refuse to negotiate for the sale, rental, lease, assignment or sublease of any housing accommodation or real property to any person because of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, spousal affiliation or physical or mental [handicap] disability; provided that the physical or mental [handicap] disability is unrelated to a person's ability to acquire or rent and maintain particular real property or housing accommodation;

                (2) discriminate against any person in the terms, conditions or privileges of the sale, rental, assignment, lease or sublease of any housing accommodation or real property or in the provision of facilities or services in connection therewith because of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, spousal affiliation or physical or mental [handicap] disability; provided that the physical or mental [handicap] disability is unrelated to a person's ability to acquire or rent and maintain particular real property or housing accommodation; or

                (3) print, circulate, display or mail or cause to be printed, circulated, displayed or mailed any statement, advertisement, publication or sign or use any form of application for the purchase, rental, lease, assignment or sublease of any housing accommodation or real property or to make any record or inquiry regarding the prospective purchase, rental, lease, assignment or sublease of any housing accommodation or real property that expresses any preference, limitation or discrimination as to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, spousal affiliation or physical or mental [handicap] disability; provided that the physical or mental [handicap] disability is unrelated to a person's ability to acquire or rent and maintain particular real property or housing accommodation;

          H. any person to whom application is made either for financial assistance for the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, repair or maintenance of any housing accommodation or real property or for any type of consumer credit, including financial assistance for the acquisition of any consumer good as defined by Section 55-9-102 NMSA 1978, to:

                (1) consider the race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, spousal affiliation or physical or mental [handicap] disability of any individual in the granting, withholding, extending, modifying or renewing or in the fixing of the rates, terms, conditions or provisions of any financial assistance or in the extension of services in connection with the request for financial assistance; or

                (2) use any form of application for financial assistance or to make any record or inquiry in connection with applications for financial assistance that expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation, specification or discrimination as to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, spousal affiliation or physical or mental [handicap] disability;

          I. any person or employer to:

                (1) aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing of any unlawful discriminatory practice or to attempt to do so;

                (2) engage in any form of threats, reprisal or discrimination against any person who has opposed any unlawful discriminatory practice or has filed a complaint, testified or participated in any proceeding under the Human Rights Act; or

                (3) willfully obstruct or prevent any person from complying with the provisions of the Human Rights Act or to resist, prevent, impede or interfere with the commission or any of its members, staff or representatives in the performance of their duties under the Human Rights Act;

          J. any employer to refuse or fail to accommodate a person's physical or mental [handicap] disability or serious medical condition, unless such accommodation is unreasonable or an undue hardship;

          K. any employer to refuse or fail to make reasonable accommodation for an employee or job applicant with a need arising from pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth; [or]

          L. any employer to require an employee with a need arising from pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth to take paid or unpaid leave if another reasonable accommodation can be provided unless the employee voluntarily requests to be placed on leave or the employee is placed on leave pursuant to federal law; or

          M. a governmental entity or a public contractor to refuse or otherwise limit or put conditions on services to a person because of race, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, pregnancy, childbirth or condition related to pregnancy or childbirth, physical or mental disability, serious medical condition or spousal affiliation; provided that nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require a governmental entity or a public contractor to provide services or programs beyond services or programs to the specific populations that the governmental entity or public contractor is tasked with serving."

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