The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is holding a hearing on S.1584, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) this morning at 10:00 A.M. The bill is sponsored by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and has 42 co-sponsors. The Majority Leader, while not a sponsor, is a strong supporter of ENDA. Watch the hearing online here.
Kerry Eleveld reports on the witnesses at the hearing, noting that no transgender witness will be on the panel:
According to a Democratic aide, the witness list was organized so that it would provide four key elements: testimony from a representative of the Obama administration, legal analysis of the bill, perspective from an employer and a state government that have implemented protections, and personal testimony from an individual who experienced harassment or was fired from a job as a result of their sexual orientation or gender identity.The full list of witnesses is below the fold.
The time limitations of the hearing essentially left one spot open for testimony from an LGBT individual who had been affected by job discrimination. That person will be Mike Carney, a gay police officer from Springfield, Mass., who also testified in a 2007 ENDA hearing before a House committee.
The Transgender Law Center, however, will provide written testimony to be entered into the record, according to executive director Masen Davis.
This is the witness list for today's hearing, via the HELP website:
Witness Testimony
Panel I
Tom Perez, Assistant Attorney General, Civil Rights Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC
Panel II
Helen Norton, Associate Professor of Law, University of Colorado School of Law, Boulder, CO
The Honorable Lisa Madigan, Attorney General, State of Illinois, Chicago, IL
Virginia Nguyen, Diversity & Inclusion Team Member, Nike, Inc., Beaverton, OR
Mike Carney, Police officer, City of Springfield Police Department, Springfield, MA
Craig Parshall, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, National Religious Broadcasters Association, Manassas, VA
Camille Olson, Partner, Seyfarth Shaw, LLP, Chicago, IL
