THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1078

TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2011

S.D. 2

STATE OF HAWAII

H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  Section 87A-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definitions of "health benefits plan" and "long-term benefits plan" to read as follows:

     ""Health benefits plan" means:

(1)  A group insurance contract or service agreement that may include medical, hospital, surgical, prescribed drugs, vision, and dental services, in which a carrier agrees to provide, pay for, arrange for, or reimburse the cost of the services as determined by [the board;] collective bargaining; or

     (2)  A similar schedule of benefits established by [the board] collective bargaining and provided through the fund on a self-insured basis.

     "Long-term care benefits plan" means:

     (1)  A group insurance contract or service agreement in which a carrier agrees to provide, pay for, arrange for, or reimburse the cost of long-term care benefits as determined by [the board;] collective bargaining; or

     (2)  A similar schedule of benefits established by [the board] collective bargaining and provided through the fund on a self-insured basis."

     SECTION 2.  Section 87A-16, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "[[]§87A-16[]]  Health benefits plan; carriers.  (a)  The [board shall establish the] health benefits plan or plans[, which] shall be determined by collective bargaining and shall be exempt from the minimum group requirements of chapter 431.

     (b)  The board may contract for health benefits plans or provide health benefits through a noninsured schedule of benefits."

     SECTION 3.  Section 87A-17, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "[[]§87A-17[]]  Group life insurance benefits or group life insurance program.  The board may provide benefits, as determined by collective bargaining, under a group life insurance benefits program or group life insurance program to employees."

     SECTION 4.  Section 87A-18, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

     "(a)  [The board may establish a] A long-term care benefits plan or plans, as determined by collective bargaining, shall be established for employee-beneficiaries; the spouses, parents, grandparents, in-law parents, and in-law grandparents of employee-beneficiaries; and qualified-beneficiaries.  The plan or plans shall be at no cost to employers and shall comply with article 10H of chapter 431."

     SECTION 5.  Section 87A-19, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "[[]§87A-19[]]  Plans for part-time, temporary, and seasonal or casual employees.  (a)  The board may offer medical, hospital, or surgical benefits plans, as determined by collective bargaining, to part-time, temporary, and seasonal or casual employees at no cost to the employers.  The board may determine eligibility for part-time, temporary, and seasonal or casual employees by rules exempt from chapter 91 as provided in section 87A-26.

     (b)  The board shall establish the medical, hospital, or surgical benefits plan or plans, [which] as determined by collective bargaining.  The medical, hospital, or surgical benefits plan or plans shall be exempt from the minimum group requirements of article 10A of chapter 431.  The medical, hospital, or surgical benefits plan or plans shall provide, pay for, arrange for, or reimburse the cost of medical, hospital, or surgical services, and may include prescribed hospital in-patient and out-patient service and medical benefits.

     (c)  The board may contract for the medical, hospital, or surgical benefits plan or plans[.], as determined by collective bargaining.  Each part-time, temporary, and seasonal or casual employee enrolled for medical, hospital, or surgical benefits shall pay monthly contributions directly to the board's designated carriers.  The monthly contributions may include the carrier's administrative costs."

     SECTION 6.  Section 87A-23, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§87A-23  Health benefits plan supplemental to medicare.  [The board] There shall [establish] be a health benefits plan, as determined by collective bargaining, which takes into account benefits available to an employee-beneficiary and spouse under medicare, subject to the following conditions:

     (1)  There shall be no duplication of benefits payable under medicare.  The plan under this section, which shall be secondary to medicare, when combined with medicare and any other plan to which the health benefits plan is subordinate under the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' coordination of benefit rules, shall provide benefits that approximate those provided to a similarly situated beneficiary not eligible for medicare;

     (2)  The State, through the department of budget and finance, and the counties, through their respective departments of finance, shall pay to the fund a contribution equal to an amount not less than the medicare part B premium, for each of the following who are enrolled in the medicare part B medical insurance plan:  (A) an employee-beneficiary who is a retired employee, (B) an employee-beneficiary's spouse while the employee-beneficiary is living, and (C) an employee-beneficiary's spouse, after the death of the employee-beneficiary, if the spouse qualifies as an employee-beneficiary.  For purposes of this section, a "retired employee" means retired members of the employees' retirement system; county pension system; or a police, firefighters, or bandsmen pension system of the State or a county as set forth in chapter 88.  If the amount reimbursed by the fund under this section is less than the actual cost of the medicare part B medical insurance plan due to an increase in the medicare part B medical insurance plan rate, the fund shall reimburse each employee-beneficiary and employee-beneficiary's spouse for the cost increase within thirty days of the rate change.  Each employee-beneficiary and employee-beneficiary's spouse who becomes entitled to reimbursement from the fund for medicare part B premiums after July 1, 2006, shall designate a financial institution account into which the fund shall be authorized to deposit reimbursements.  This method of payment may be waived by the fund if another method is determined to be more appropriate;

     (3)  The benefits available under this plan, when combined with benefits available under medicare or any other coverage or plan to which this plan is subordinate under the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' coordination of benefit rules, shall approximate the benefits that would be provided to a similarly situated employee-beneficiary not eligible for medicare;

     (4)  All employee-beneficiaries or dependent-beneficiaries who are eligible to enroll in the medicare part B medical insurance plan shall enroll in that plan as a condition of receiving contributions and participating in benefits plans under this chapter.  This paragraph shall apply to retired employees, their spouses, and the surviving spouses of deceased retirees and employees killed in the performance of duty; and

     (5)  The board shall determine which of the employee-beneficiaries and dependent-beneficiaries, who are not enrolled in the medicare part B medical insurance plan, may participate in the plans offered by the fund."

     SECTION 7.  Section 87A-24, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§87A-24  Other powers.  In addition to the power to administer the fund, the board may:

     (1)  Collect, receive, deposit, and withdraw money on behalf of the fund;

     (2)  Invest moneys in the same manner specified in section 88-119(1)(A), (1)(B), (1)(C), (2), (3), (4), (5), (6), and (7);

     (3)  Hold, purchase, sell, assign, transfer, or dispose of any securities or other investments of the fund, as well as the proceeds of those investments and any money belonging to the fund;

     (4)  Appoint, and at pleasure dismiss, an administrator and other fund staff.  The administrator and staff shall be exempt from chapter 76 and shall serve under and at the pleasure of the board;

     (5)  Make payments of periodic charges and pay for reasonable expenses incurred in carrying out the purposes of the fund;

     (6)  Contract for the performance of financial audits of the fund and claims audits of its insurance carriers;

     (7)  Retain auditors, actuaries, investment firms and managers, benefit plan consultants, or other professional advisors to carry out the purposes of this chapter;

     (8)  [Establish] Administer health benefits plan and long-term care benefits plan rates that include administrative and other expenses necessary to effectuate the purposes of the fund; and

     (9)  Require any department, agency, or employee of the State or counties to furnish information to the board to carry out the purposes of this chapter."

     SECTION 8.  Section 87A-33, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (e) to read as follows:

     "(e)  [If the board adopts a] A rate structure determined by collective bargaining that provides for other than self and family rates for the health benefit plans, the base monthly contribution for the rate structure [adopted by the board] shall be adjusted to provide the equivalent underwriting cost as the base monthly contribution that is provided for in this section."

     SECTION 9.  Section 89-9, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:

     1.  By amending subsection (a) to read:

     "(a)  The employer and the exclusive representative shall meet at reasonable times, including meetings sufficiently in advance of the February 1 impasse date under section 89-11, and shall negotiate in good faith with respect to wages, hours, the benefits of and the amounts of contributions by the State and respective counties to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund to the extent allowed in subsection (e), and other terms and conditions of employment [which] that are subject to collective bargaining and [which] that are to be embodied in a written agreement as specified in section 89-10[, but such]; provided that the obligation to meet and negotiate does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or make a concession[; provided that the parties may not negotiate with respect to cost items as defined by section 89-2 for the biennium 1999 to 2001, and the cost items of employees in bargaining units under section 89-6 in effect on June 30, 1999, shall remain in effect until July 1, 2001]."

     2.  By amending subsections (d) and (e) to read:

     "(d)  Excluded from the subjects of negotiations are matters of classification, reclassification, [benefits of but not contributions to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund,] recruitment, examination, initial pricing, and retirement benefits except as provided in section 88-8(h).  The employer and the exclusive representative shall not agree to any proposal [which] that would be inconsistent with the merit principle or the principle of equal pay for equal work pursuant to section 76-1 or [which] that would interfere with the rights and obligations of a public employer to:

     (1)  Direct employees;

     (2)  Determine qualifications, standards for work, and the nature and contents of examinations;

     (3)  Hire, promote, transfer, assign, and retain employees in positions;

     (4)  Suspend, demote, discharge, or take other disciplinary action against employees for proper cause;

     (5)  Relieve an employee from duties because of lack of work or other legitimate reason;

     (6)  Maintain efficiency and productivity, including maximizing the use of advanced technology, in government operations;

     (7)  Determine methods, means, and personnel by which the employer's operations are to be conducted; and

     (8)  Take [such] actions as may be necessary to carry out the missions of the employer in cases of emergencies.

     This subsection shall not be used to invalidate provisions of collective bargaining agreements in effect on and after June 30, 2007, and shall not preclude negotiations over the procedures and criteria on promotions, transfers, assignments, demotions, layoffs, suspensions, terminations, discharges, or other disciplinary actions as a permissive subject of bargaining during collective bargaining negotiations or negotiations over a memorandum of agreement, memorandum of understanding, or other supplemental agreement.

     Violations of the procedures and criteria so negotiated may be subject to the grievance procedure in the collective bargaining agreement.

     (e)  Negotiations relating to the benefits of and contributions to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund shall be for the purpose of agreeing upon the benefits under the health benefits plan, as defined in section 87A-1, and group life insurance benefits plan, pursuant to section 87A-37, and amounts [which] that the State and counties shall contribute under [section 87-4,] sections 87A-32, 87A-33, 87A-33.5, 87A-34, 87A-35, and 87A-36 toward the payment of the costs for a health benefits plan, as defined in section [87-1(8),] 87A-1, and under section 87A-37 toward the payment of the costs for group life insurance benefits[, and]; provided that the parties shall not be bound by the benefits and amounts contributed under prior agreements[; provided that section 89-11 for the resolution of disputes by way of arbitration shall not be available to resolve impasses or disputes relating to the amounts the State and counties shall contribute to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund]."

     SECTION 10.  Section 89-11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (g) to read as follows:

     "(g)  The decision of the arbitration panel shall be final and binding upon the parties on all provisions submitted to the arbitration panel.  [If the parties have reached agreement with respect to the amounts of contributions by the State and counties to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund by the tenth working day after the arbitration panel issues its decision, the final and binding agreement of the parties on all provisions shall consist of the panel's decision and the amounts of contributions agreed to by the parties.  If the parties have not reached agreement with respect to the amounts of contributions by the State and counties to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund by the close of business on the tenth working day after the arbitration panel issues its decision, the parties shall have five days to submit their respective recommendations for such contributions to the legislature, if it is in session, and if the legislature is not in session, the parties shall submit their respective recommendations for such contributions to the legislature during the next session of the legislature.  In such event, the final and binding agreement of the parties on all provisions shall consist of the panel's decision and the amounts of contributions established by the legislature by enactment, after the legislature has considered the recommendations for such contributions by the parties.] It is strictly understood that no member of a bargaining unit subject to this subsection shall be allowed to participate in a strike on the issue of the benefits of or amounts of contributions by the State and counties to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund.  The parties shall take whatever action is necessary to carry out and effectuate the final and binding agreement.  The parties may, at any time and by mutual agreement, amend or modify the panel's decision.

     Agreements reached pursuant to the decision of an arbitration panel and the amounts of contributions by the State and counties to the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund, as provided herein, shall not be subject to ratification by the employees concerned.  All items requiring any moneys for implementation shall be subject to appropriations by the appropriate legislative bodies and the employer shall submit all such items within ten days after the date on which the agreement is entered into as provided herein, to the appropriate legislative bodies."

     SECTION 11.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 12.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2050.



 

Report Title:

Collective Bargaining; Public Employees

 

Description:

Specifies that the benefits of the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund are subject to negotiation.  Clarifies that a decision of an arbitration panel shall be final.  Makes conforming amendments to Chapter 87A, HRS, and Chapter 89, HRS.  Effective July 1, 2050.  (SB1078 HD1)

 

 

 

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