STAND. COM. REP. NO.439

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2001

RE: H.B. No. 641

H.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor and Public Employment, to which was referred H.B. No. 641 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENTS, FINANCIAL ABILITY OF THE EMPLOYER IN IMPASSE PROCEEDINGS AND TRANSFER OF THE OFFICE OF COLLECTIVE BARGAINING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to:

(1) Allow a county legislative body to act independently in approving or rejecting collective bargaining cost items;

(2) Provide that the whole agreement be returned for further bargaining when a cost item is rejected;

(3) Clarify that public sector collective bargaining agreements have a duration of two years; and

(4) Require a fact-finding panel to consider the impact of their recommendation or award of cost items on future collective bargaining agreements in determining the employer's ability to pay.

Testimony in opposition to this measure was presented by the Hawaii Government Employees Association, the Hawaii State Teachers Association, and the United Public Workers. The Department of Human Resources Development submitted comments.

Currently, public sector collective bargaining agreements expire on June 30 in odd numbered years to parallel the fiscal biennium. Some recent collective bargaining agreements have been for periods longer than one biennium.

Your Committee finds that clarifying that collective bargaining agreements are not to exceed two years will remove uncertainty and eliminate confusion among the parties. The Legislature is prohibited from approving cost items beyond the legislative biennium and cannot approve cost items in agreements that extend beyond two years.

Your Committee further finds that placing the Office of Collective Bargaining (office) with the Department of Human Resources Development will improve the office's access to data and administrative support, resulting in more efficient operations.

Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Deleting the provision that allows a county legislative body to act independently in approving or rejecting a cost item;

(2) Deleting the requirement that the whole agreement is returned for further bargaining when a cost item is rejected by a state or county legislative body;

(3) Deleting the requirement for a fact-finding panel to consider the impact of its recommendation or award of cost items on future collective bargaining agreements and to consider costs of all agreements in determining the employer's ability to pay;

(4) Adding standard transfer and transition language in sections 3 to 7 applicable to the transfer of agencies or programs between departments; and

(5) Making technical, nonsubstantive corrections for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor and Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 641, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 641, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor and Public Employment,

____________________________

TERRY NUI YOSHINAGA, Chair