STAND. COM. REP. NO. 295
                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 820
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Labor and Environment, to which was
referred S.B. No. 820 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to prohibit discriminatory
pay differences for equivalent jobs.

     The measure establishes a statutory framework for
determination of "equivalent jobs" or "comparable worth", record
keeping and reporting requirements for employers, and enforcement
for violations of the newly established unlawful discriminatory
practice.

     Testimony in support of this measure was received from the
Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, ILWU Local 142,
Hawaii Lawyers Care, Women's Financial resource Center, Hawaii
Women Lawyers, Maui Business and Professional Women's Club,
Honolulu Business and Professional Women's Club, and an
individual.  The Hawaii Civil Rights Commission (HCRC) testified
in support of the measure with amendments.

     Your Committee finds that occupations which are historically
filled by women or racial minorities have lower average wages
than comparable or equivalent occupations in which men or non-
minorities are over-represented, or in which women and minorities
have been excluded.  This measure addresses these inequities.


 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 295
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     Your Committee also finds that pay equity and comparable
worth analyses, as required by this measure, best address pay
differences between classes of occupations rather than between
individual employees.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Limiting the requirements of the measure to companies
          with 25 or more employees;

     (2)  Clarifying the definition of "equivalent jobs" by
          replacing the reference to the federal Equal Pay Act
          with "the same or similar in skill, effort, or
          responsibility";

     (3)  Replacing all references to "national origin" with the
          broader term "ancestry";

     (4)  Clarifying that the Department of Labor and Industrial
          Relations (DLIR) has rulemaking authority over the new
          statutory sections of the measure and not section
          378-2(7), as that authority rests with the HCRC; 

     (5)  Clarifying that DLIR has the authority to use the
          information gathered for enforcement; and

     (6)  Removing the definition of "market rates" because there
          is no reference to the term in the measure.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Labor and Environment that is attached to this
report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose
of S.B. No. 820, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass
Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 820,
S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Labor and
                                   Environment,



                                   ______________________________
                                   BOB NAKATA, Chair

 
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