STAND. COM. REP. NO. 910-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: H.B. No. 1936

H.D. 2

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 1936, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HARBOR SAFETY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require that the securing of mooring lines from vessels requiring tug assistance to commercial docks, wharves, piers, quays, and landings be performed by stevedoring companies registered in the State, with certain exceptions for vessels operating on behalf of an authorized intrastate or transpacific water carrier.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the International Longshore & Warehouse Union Local 142 and numerous individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from Island Plastic Bags; Hawaiian Cement; American Marine Corporation; Hawaii Shippers' Council; Hawaii Energy Marketers Association; Chamber of Commerce Hawaii; Centerline Logistics; Par Hawaii; Hawaiʻi Cost of Living Coalition; Aloha Marine Lines; Island Energy Services, LLC; American Waterways Operators; Retail Merchants of Hawaii; and Maui Chamber of Commerce. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Transportation; Public Utilities Commission; Hawaiʻi Gas; Sause Bros., Inc.; and Building Industry Association of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that there is no existing requirement for out-of-state companies to utilize trained longshore linespersons to secure vessels to the commercial docks, wharves, piers, quays, bulkheads, and landings in the State. This measure will ensure the safe securing of mooring lines from vessels requiring tug assistance to the various marine vessel landings in the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting language that would have required, with certain exceptions, that the securing of mooring lines from vessels requiring tug assistance to commercial docks, wharves, piers, quays, and landings be performed by a stevedoring company;

(2) Inserting language that mandates the Department of Transportation to require that the securing of mooring lines from vessels to commercial docks, wharves, piers, quays, and landings be performed by labor subject to collective bargaining; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1936, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1936, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce,

____________________________

MARK M. NAKASHIMA, Chair