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               ENGROSSED SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 1194

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State of Washington      55th Legislature     1998 Regular Session

By House Committee on Commerce & Labor (originally sponsored by Representatives Cody, McMorris, Clements, Conway, Wood, Hatfield, Honeyford, Romero, Skinner, Dyer, Chopp, Murray, Morris, Keiser, Cooper and Mason)

Read first time 03/05/97.

Requiring employers to allow mothers to breast-feed. 

    AN ACT Relating to infant breast-feeding; amending RCW 9A.88.010; and adding a new section to chapter 49.12 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 49.12 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) The legislature finds that breast-feeding of an infant is an important and basic act of nurture which must be encouraged in the interests of maternal and child health and of family values.  The legislature recognizes that workplace policies protecting a woman's right to choose to breast-feed her child will further these important goals.

    (2) An employer must provide a location at the workplace to allow a woman to express breast milk except where reasonable safety or security considerations require other options.  Providing a clean lavatory designed for women or a clean lavatory with a locking door meets this requirement.

    (3)(a) An employer may use the designation "baby-friendly" on its promotional materials if the employer has an approved workplace breast-feeding policy addressing at least the following:

    (i) Flexible work scheduling, including scheduling breaks and permitting work patterns that provide time for expression of breast milk;

    (ii) Accessible locations allowing privacy for breast-feeding or expressing breast milk;

    (iii) An accessible clean and safe water source with facilities for washing hands and rinsing breast-pumping equipment; and

    (iv) An accessible hygienic storage alternative in the workplace for the mother's breast milk.

    (b) Employers seeking approval of a workplace breast-feeding policy shall submit the policy to the department of health.  The department shall review and approve those policies that meet the requirements of this section.

    (4) For the purposes of this section, "employer" includes those employers defined in RCW 49.12.005 and also includes the state, state institutions, state agencies, political subdivisions of the state, and municipal corporations or quasi-municipal corporations.

    Sec. 2.  RCW 9A.88.010 and 1990 c 3 s 904 are each amended to read as follows:

    (1) A person is guilty of indecent exposure if ((he)) the person intentionally makes any open and obscene exposure of his person or the person of another knowing that such conduct is likely to cause reasonable affront or alarm.  The act of breast-feeding is not indecent exposure, as defined in this section, regardless of whether or not the nipple of the woman's breast is covered during or incidental to breast-feeding.

    (2) Indecent exposure is a misdemeanor unless such person exposes himself or herself to a person under the age of fourteen years in which case indecent exposure is a gross misdemeanor on the first offense and, if such person has previously been convicted under this subsection or of a sex offense as defined in RCW 9.94A.030, then such person is guilty of a class C felony punishable under chapter 9A.20 RCW.

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