STAND. COM. REP. NO. 359

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 915

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 915 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT COST ITEMS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide a legislative vehicle to fund public sector collective bargaining cost items for salary adjustments, other cost adjustments, and Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund costs for public employees in collective bargaining unit (3) and their excluded counterparts for fiscal biennium 2017-2019.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance; University of Hawaii System; Hawaii Health Systems Corporation; and Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO.

 

     Your Committee finds that the negotiations for collective bargaining agreements for bargaining unit (3) are currently in progress.  This measure provides a legislative vehicle that can be used if an agreement is reached or an arbitration award is issued prior to the end of the 2017 Regular Session.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 915, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 915, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair