STAND. COM. REP. NO. 712

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 163

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 163, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to change the employer membership when negotiating collective bargaining agreements for bargaining units (5), (6), and (9).

 

     Specifically, the measure provides that:

 

     (1)  A representative of the public charter schools, as selected by the Public Charter School Commission, shall have one vote when negotiating collective bargaining agreements for bargaining units (5) and (6); and

 

     (2)  When negotiating collective bargaining agreements for bargaining unit (9), there shall be three votes for the Governor, two votes for the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation Board of Directors, and one vote for the Chief Justice.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the State Public Charter School Commission, Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, and East Hawaii Region of the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation.  Your Committee received written comments in opposition to this measure from the Department of Education.  Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Office of Collective Bargaining.

 

     Your Committee finds that providing a representative of the public charter schools with one vote on collective bargaining matters within units (5) and (6) may upset the deliberate balance of voting authority established between the Governor, the Board of Education, and the Superintendent of Education.  The addition of a vote for the State Public Charter School Commission could create the potential for a collective bargaining agreement that is not supported by the Governor or, alternatively, not supported by the Board of Education or Superintendent of Education.  In any case, the result could be an agreement that would not seem to be in the best interests of the public.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by deleting language that provided a representative of the public charter schools with one vote on collective bargaining agreements for bargaining units (5) and (6).

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 163, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 163, S.D. 2.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair