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Volume 5, Number 3
BROOKS INTRODUCES THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1991
On January 3, 1991 the Civil Rights Act of 1991 was the first bill introduced in the House of Representatives by Representatives Jack Brooks (D-TX), Don Edwards (D-CA), Hamilton Fish (R-NY), Richard Gephardt (D-MO), William Gray (D-PA), Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Vic Fazio (D-CA), Pat Schroeder (D-CO), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), Edolphus Towns (D-NY), Solomon Ortiz (D-TX), Norman Mineta (D-CA), and Robert Mat sui (D-CA). The bill, H.R. 1, will amend Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimina tion in employment on the basis of race, sex, national origin, or religion, and the 1866 Civil Rights Law (sec tion 1981 of 42 U.S. Code) which prohibits intentional race discrimination in the making and enforcing of con tracts. The bill addresses several Supreme Court decisions on employment discrimination that add up to a major shift from equal employment opportunity law established over the past twenty-six years to protect the rights of minorities and women. (For background, see CIVIL RIGHTS MONITOR, vol. 5, no. 2, no. 1; vol. 4, nos. 5&6, no. 4, no. 3, no. 2.)
Representative Jack Brooks (D-TX), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, and principal sponsor of the bill, on introducing the bill, said:
"Since passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, this Nation has made great strides in providing greater opportunity in the workplace for all Americans. Yet, testimony taken during joint hearings of the House Judiciary Committee and the Education and Labor Committee during the last Congress revealed clearly that difficulties in the workplace still exist for women and minorities. In addition, the accomplishments that have been made through decades of struggle were placed in jeopardy by the Supreme Court by a series of restrictive and damaging civil rights decisions in 1989....
"When this act is passed - at the beginning of another great decade of American history - it will provide the needed impetus to business to overcome the last vestiges of second class citizenship for women and minorities in the workplace, to ensure a level playing field for all Americans, and to assure that our brothers and sisters are treated fairly and equitably in their struggle for jobs equal to their skills and abilities."
Representative Don Edwards (D-CA), chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights, and co-sponsor of the bill said:
"The Congress has an obligation to make sure that victims of discrimination have a fair and equitable opportunity to obtain legal redress. Victims of discrimination should not have to leap over insurmountable and unnecessary barriers in order to make their case in court. H.R. 1 reaffirms the intent of Congress to provide meaningful and effective relief to victims of discrimination. Speedy enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 will guarantee that victims of discrimination have meaningful and effective relief. The Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights, which I chair, plans to move quickly on this bill, and we hope to have this bill on the floor as quickly as possible."
Senate supporters of the Civil Rights Act are expected to introduce a similar bill shortly.
  
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