A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT directing the office of state personnel to study pay equity.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  The Office of State Personnel shall study:
(1)	The extent of gender and race wage disparities in State government employment.
(2)	Those factors which cause, or which tend to cause, the disparities, including segregation between women and men as well as race across and within occupations and payment of lower wage occupations.
(3)	Whether dissimilar State government job categories requiring similar education, training, skills, and responsibilities are being compensated with equal pay.
(4)	The consequences of the disparities on the efficiency of State government, the State's economy, and the families affected.
(5)	Actions, including proposed legislation, that are likely to lead to the elimination and prevention of compensation disparities in State government employment.
The Office of State Personnel may consider any other matter that it finds relevant to its charge. Staff of the Office of State Personnel may conduct public hearings around the State to solicit firsthand testimony regarding pay equity issues.
SECTION 2.  The Office of State Personnel shall complete an analysis of the issues identified for study in Section 1 of this act by October 1, 2009, and submit that analysis to the General Assembly for its information.
SECTION 3.  The Office of State Personnel shall make an interim report to the General Assembly by May 1, 2010, and a final report to the 2011 Regular Session of the General Assembly prior to its convening. The interim and final reports shall include the results of the Office's study as well as recommendations, legislative and otherwise, for the elimination and prevention of disparities in State employee compensation.
SECTION 4.  This act is effective when it becomes law.