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GOP Lawmakers Shut Down Proposed Study Of State’s Gender Pay Gap

Julia Ritchey
/
KUER
Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake, prepares to present S.B. 152, comissioning an equal compensation study.

Utah has historically had one of the largest gender wage gapsin the country, but a bill that would’ve researched wage disparities among state employees faced a chilly reception from male lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Luz Escamilla, D-Salt Lake, wants to commission a study to examine any pay disparities among the state’s 22,000 employees.

The Department of Human Resource Management already collects this salary information for the state’s 28 agencies. Escamilla’s bill proposed spending $125,000 on an independent study to analyze the data.

“I think it’s important to have this tool, this extra tool in our toolbox as we move forward with policies that may be related to wages and any disparity related to women," she told the Senate Business and Labor Committee on Tuesday.

But some members of the committee seemed skeptical, peppering Escamilla with questions on the purpose and cost of the study.

“I’m still concerned about the fiscal note on this bill,” said Sen. Curt Bramble, the Provo Republican who chairs the committee.

“To me, it still appears to be an interim study-type item,” said Sen. Dan Hemmert, R-Orem.

Before Escamilla’s bill got to a vote, Sen. Don Ipson, R-St. George, interjected with a motion to adjourn. That's a procedural move that effectively ends debate on an issue.

 

Escamilla, a Democrat, said she knew the bill could be an uphill battle in the predominantly Republican, male-led Legislature.

“There may be some ideological and fundamental problems,” she said. “I’m not going to lie, it’s not going to be an easy task. We haven’t done anything related to the wage gap, not that I recall, in the last 10 sessions.”

Escamilla plans to bring the bill back to the committee before the end of the session.

 

Julia joined KUER in 2016 after a year reporting at the NPR member station in Reno, Nev. During her stint, she covered battleground politics, school overcrowding, and any story that would take her to the crystal blue shores of Lake Tahoe. Her work earned her two regional Edward R. Murrow awards. Originally from the mountains of Western North Carolina, Julia graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2008 with a degree in journalism. She’s worked as both a print and radio reporter in several states and several countries — from the 2008 Beijing Olympics to Dakar, Senegal. Her curiosity about the American West led her to take a spontaneous, one-way road trip to the Great Basin, where she intends to continue preaching the gospel of community journalism, public radio and podcasting. In her spare time, you’ll find her hanging with her beagle Bodhi, taking pictures of her food and watching Patrick Swayze movies.
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