Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 13, 1991                   TAG: 9103130194
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

HOUSE COMMITTEES OK REVISED CIVIL RIGHTS BILL

Reflecting sponsors' new emphasis on extending job protections to women, the House Education and Labor Committee also voted to change the bill's title from the Civil Rights Act of 1991 to the Civil Rights and Women's Equity in Employment Act of 1991.

The bill, which is being considered simultaneously by two House committees, also passed its first subcommittee test in the Judiciary Committee. Both panels acted on voice votes, largely along party lines. It still needs approval by the full Judiciary Committee before heading to the House floor.

The approved version is similar to one that passed overwhelmingly last year but was vetoed by Bush, who charged it would prompt employers to impose quotas in hiring and promotions. Democrats denied the charge and said they also oppose quotas.

The actions came just hours after Republicans introduced Bush's alternative, which would set $150,000 limits on damage claims in cases of sexual discrimination or harassment in the work place. The Democratic version would set no such limits and would go further in reversing 1989 Supreme Court decisions that sponsors say limited minority rights in job-bias cases.

Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole of Kansas said Republicans would sustain a presidential veto again this year if Democrats fail to compromise with Republicans.

The Education and Labor Committee rejected Republican-led efforts to replace the Democratic bill with Bush's version and rejected a pair of other GOP-backed amendments.

The civil rights bill has been a top priority of House Democratic leaders. House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., said a floor vote could come in April or May - but he acknowledged that Democrats have not completed their job of persuading the public that the bill would not lead to quotas.

"The polls would indicate that people do not perceive correctly yet what the bill can do and why it is important," Gephardt said.

The bill would expand women's rights in job-bias claims by permitting them for the first time to collect punitive damages in cases of sexual discrimination or harassment. It would, in effect, put sex discrimination claims on equal legal footing with racial-bias cases.