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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Picraux

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

02/02/07

HB 613

SHORT TITLE Breast Pump Use in Workplaces

SB

ANALYST Hanika Ortiz

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Labor (DOL)

Department of Health (DOH)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 613 enacts a new section of Chapter 28, Article 20 NMSA 1978 to require an em-

ployer provide a clean and private location for a nursing mother to utilize a breast pump in the

workplace and to have a flexible break time in which to use it during work hours. Employers will

need to provide a clean, private space, which is not a bathroom, nearby the employee’s work-

place for using a breast pump. Employers shall not be liable for storage or refrigeration of breast

milk, or payment for a nursing mother’s break time in addition to established employee breaks or

payment of overtime incurred because a nursing mother is using a breast pump.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The bill provides no penalty for violation of the Act, and there are no existing penalties under

Civil Rights statutes.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DOL reports that the bill will extend some level of protection to a woman once a child has been

born that normally would end after pregnancy within pregnancy protection/discrimination laws.

House Bill 613 – Page

2

The bill provides for a reasonable workplace accommodation to a mother who is nursing, in a

manner that appears to have little fiscal impact on an employer yet significantly benefits a

mother/child.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

DOH reports a small employer or an employer with limited space may find it difficult to desig-

nate an area for using the breast pump. The bill does not include how this new law might be

monitored, where an employer might go to obtain training or information about implementing

the law, or what kind of recourse a breastfeeding mother or an employer might have in the event

these conditions are not met. Such training could include cost-savings estimates for the work-

place when women are able to breastfeed or pump breast milk. DOH suggests allowing the NM

Breastfeeding Task Force to assist with the training and implementation of the proposed law.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that infants be exclusively breastfed for ap-

proximately the first six months of life, and then continued for at least the first year of life; their

recommendation includes encouraging employers to provide appropriate facilities and adequate

time in the workplace for breast-pumping. Given health and economic benefits of breastfeeding,

the federal Department of Health and Human Services recommends that all worksites support the

continuation of breastfeeding through initiatives that include providing private rooms, adequate

breaks and flexible work hours for nursing mothers.

Breastfeeding support is one health indicator where New Mexico is among the nation’s 5 best

states. The percent of New Mexican mothers who were breastfeeding when their infant’s age

was 60 days or more, and who were at work or in school, declined from 46.5% in 2002 to 43.8%

in 2004. Of these mothers, nearly 20% reported that it was hard to use breaks or to find a place to

pump or breastfeed

.

An earlier study of mothers in WIC found that allowing mothers to keep the

baby at work or to use break time to pump are associated with breastfeeding rates similar to

those of mothers not working or in school.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

The right to use a breast pump in the workplace and to have a flexible break time will be left up

to the employer.

AHO/yr