[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 96 (Thursday, June 16, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S4308]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 4725. Mrs. MURRAY submitted an amendment intended to be proposed 
by her to the bill H.R. 2578, making appropriations for the Departments 
of Commerce and Justice, Science, and Related Agencies for the fiscal 
year ending September 30, 2016, and for other purposes; which was 
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of title V (before the short title), insert the 
     following:

     SEC. __. COLLECTION OF PAY DATA THROUGH EMPLOYER INFORMATION 
                   REPORT EEO-1.

       (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
       (1) The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (referred 
     to in this section as the ``Commission'') is responsible for 
     enforcing title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 
     U.S.C. 2000e et seq.), including section 701(k) of that title 
     (commonly known as the ``Pregnancy Discrimination Act'') (42 
     U.S.C. 2000e(k)), section 6(d) of the Fair Labor Standards 
     Act of 1963 (commonly known as the ``Equal Pay Act of 1963'') 
     (29 U.S.C. 206(d)), title I of the Americans with 
     Disabilities Act of 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12111 et seq.), the 
     Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (42 U.S.C. 
     2000ff et seq.), section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (29 
     U.S.C. 794), the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 
     (29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.), and other Federal civil rights laws 
     that prohibit discrimination in employment.
       (2) Employment discrimination can manifest in many ways 
     including firing an employee, paying an employee less, 
     failing to promote an employee, or demoting an employee, 
     because of the employee's race, sex, color, religion, 
     national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, or 
     gender identity.
       (3) Today, on average, women make just 79 cents for every 
     dollar that men make. African-American and Hispanic women are 
     paid just 60 cents and 55 cents, respectively, for every 
     dollar that non-Hispanic White men are paid.
       (4) For 50 years, the Commission has collected employment 
     data through the Employer Information Report EEO-1, which 
     provides workforce profiles from private sector employers, 
     categorized by race, ethnicity, sex, and job category.
       (5) Pursuant to section 709(c) of the Civil Rights Act of 
     1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e-8(c)), the Commission has the authority 
     to collect pay data (including W-2 earnings and hours worked 
     by employees) from employers.
       (6) The Commission recently proposed, and has the authority 
     to finalize, a new rule supplementing the information 
     collected through the Employer Information Report EEO-1 to 
     collect pay data from employers in order to obtain insight 
     into pay disparities across industries and occupations and 
     strengthen Federal efforts to combat discrimination.
       (7) The data will help employers better understand their 
     pay practices and voluntarily address gender-based pay 
     imbalances, as well as identify pay disparities that may 
     warrant further examination by the Commission.
       (b) Transfer of Funds for Information Collection.--The 
     Secretary of Commerce shall transfer $1,000,000 of the funds 
     made available by this Act from the appropriations account 
     under the heading ``salaries and expenses'' under the heading 
     ``Departmental Management'' of the Department of Commerce, to 
     the appropriations account under the heading ``salaries and 
     expenses'' of the Commission. Such transferred funds may only 
     be used to finalize and implement the regulation referred to 
     in the notice entitled ``Agency Information Collection 
     Activities: Revision of the Employer Information Report (EEO-
     1) and Comment Request'', published by the Commission (81 
     Fed. Reg. 5113 (February 1, 2016)).
                                 ______