STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1002

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 1134

H.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 1134, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MINIMUM WAGES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to assist Hawaii's workers while maintaining fairness for Hawaii's employers by:

(1) Increasing the minimum wage from $6.25 per hour to $7.00 per hour beginning July 1, 2005;

(2) Providing for annual increases in the minimum wage by using the percent increase of the most recent gross state product deflator published by the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism;

(3) Requiring that the minimum wage never be decreased while establishing that annual increases in the minimum wage not exceed fifty cents;

(4) Reconstituting the provision of a "tip credit" by allowing an employer to reduce the wages of tipped employees if a tipped employee is not paid less than $1.00 below the minimum wage, and the employee's tips and wages account for earnings of $.50 more than the minimum wage established by law; and

(5) Allowing employers who employ persons under the age of 18 to pay a minimum wage that is 85 percent of the established minimum wage provided that this wage is not below the federal minimum wage.

The Hawaii State Teachers Association and a concerned individual testified in support of this bill. The Hawaii State AFL-CIO and ILWU Local 142 supported the bill in part and opposed the bill in part. The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, The Hawaii Business League, Retail Merchants of Hawaii, National Federation of Independent Business – Hawaii, Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association, LWD, Inc., Gyotaku Japanese Restaurant, Aloha Tofu Factory, Inc., Wailana Coffee House, BrokersEye, LLC, and Transcend, Inc. testified in opposition to this measure.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Replacing the increase schedule with one that raises the minimum wage to $6.75 beginning January 1, 2006, and to $7.25 beginning January 1, 2007;

(2) Re-inserting original statutory language that establishes a tip credit and deleting all amendments to the tip credit;

(3) Deleting the automatic adjustment to the minimum wage;

(4) Deleting the provision that allows for a sub-minimum wage for minors; and

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

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1134, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1134, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

 

____________________________

DWIGHT TAKAMINE, Chair