STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1085

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 1889

S.D. 1

H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred S.B. No. 1889, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO APPRENTICESHIPS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to improve, promote, approve, and ensure that qualified apprenticeship training programs exist in Hawaii by:

(1) Requiring rather than allowing the Director of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) to establish an apprenticeship council to promote and approve apprenticeship programs consistent with the standards for agreements;

(2) Making the apprenticeship council regulatory rather than advisory; and

(3) Amending the standards for agreements of apprenticeship programs to include assurances that:

(A) Qualified training personnel, adequate supervision on the job, and the requisite number of specialty licenses relevant to the trade or craft are available for the apprenticeship program; and

(B) In the instance of parallel programs, that a continuing need exists in the trade or group of trades and that these programs are "equal to or better than" an existing program.

This bill also provides that these changes will only become effective if approval is received from the federal Office of Apprenticeship Training, Employer, and Labor Services (OATELS).

The International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, AFL-CIO, Local Union 1944, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, District Council 50, AFL-CIO, and Glaziers Local Union 1889 testified in support of this bill. The Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. testified in opposition to this measure. DLIR commented on this measure, opposing the bill in part.

Your Committee finds that apprenticeship programs are important to many industries, particularly the construction and trade industries, and that assuring that minimum qualifications are met before these types of programs are approved will strengthen these industries. Mandating the establishment of a state apprenticeship council that is regulatory rather than purely advisory in nature helps achieve this objective.

However, your Committee does understand that approval of changes to state apprenticeship council policies or procedures regarding recognized state apprenticeship programs requires OATELS approval. Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring that written approval be obtained from OATELS before the amendments to the standards of agreement become effective;

(2) Requiring that the establishment of the apprenticeship council by the director of DLIR only take place after written approval is received from OATELS;

(3) Clarifying that if written approval from OATELS is not received by the director of DLIR, statutory language will be reenacted in the form in which it read on the day before the approval of this Act; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1889, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1889, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.

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

 

____________________________

KIRK CALDWELL, Chair