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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 15, 2023 02:02 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Tarik Khan and Rep. Dan L. Miller |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Prohibiting the Subminimum Wage for Pennsylvanians with Disabilities in State Contracts |
| Pennsylvanians with disabilities deserve access to integrated workplaces with competitive wages. For too long, many individuals with disabilities have been excluded from workspaces or, at times, even legally employed below the minimum wage. Pennsylvania’s system of state contracts has contributed to this inequity by giving preference to employers with a high number of employees with disabilities (who may be segregated from other employees) instead of prioritizing workplaces with integrated workforces that include a high number of employees with disabilities. Our legislation will properly incentivize our state’s system for contracts to give preference to employers who integrate workers with disabilities into their workforce instead of rewarding closed shops where individuals with disabilities are cloistered away from other workers. This bill will emphasize that to qualify for this special designation for state contracts, companies must integrate their workforce. Just as importantly, our bill will also remove loopholes that allow these companies to pay Pennsylvanians with disabilities below the minimum wage when performing work on state contracts. This bill also modernizes the archaic and offensive language in this section of the existing procurement code around disability. We must ensure that people with disabilities are no longer paid a sub-minimum wage and that closed, segregated workplaces are converted into integrated, competitive employment sites. This bill is the result of a key policy recommendation directly from the Employment First Oversight Commission’s annual report. We believe this legislation is needed to align Pennsylvania’s contracts with the pledge it made to become an Employment First state through Act 36 of 2018. This legislature committed to ensuring Pennsylvanians with disabilities were provided the opportunity to work and to be compensated fairly for that work. Let’s keep that promise. This bill helps makes certain that Pennsylvania is supporting Employment First policies when spending its own money. Please join us in sponsoring this critical legislation. |
Introduced as HB2485