CO HJR1017

Proclaims Tuesday, April 12, 2016, as "Equal Pay Day" in Colorado to acknowledge wage disparities between men and women.

Notes that Colorado women earned 80 cents per dollar compared to male counterparts as of 2013, with projections that equal pay won't be achieved until 2057 at current progress rates.

Highlights racial and ethnic wage gaps, with Latina women earning only 53.8% of white men's wages, followed by Native American women at 55.7%, African American women at 65.5%, and Asian/Pacific Islander women at 70.5%.

Urges governmental agencies, nonprofit and labor organizations, businesses, and individuals to implement equal pay policies to close the pay gap for Colorado's women and minorities.

States that closing the wage gap would strengthen family security, ease retirement costs, add $450 billion to the economy, cut poverty rates for working women in half, and lift nearly 3 million women out of poverty.