STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3134

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2373

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor and Technology, to which was referred H.B. No. 2373, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING EMERGENCY APPROPRIATIONS FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT COST ITEMS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to make emergency appropriations for collective bargaining cost items for the members of Bargaining Units (1) and (10) and their excluded counterparts, including the cost of salary adjustments negotiated between the State and the bargaining unit representative for fiscal biennium 2023-2025.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance; Judiciary; University of Hawaiʻi System; United Public Workers, AFSCME Local 646, AFL-CIO; and Hawaii Health Systems Corporation.

Your Committee finds that unions representing public employees in Hawaii have been pursuing claims for temporary hazard pay for work performed by government employees during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic pursuant to hazard-pay provisions of the respective collective bargaining agreements, and collective bargaining negotiations regarding the issue are currently in progress. This measure provides a legislative vehicle that can be used to make emergency appropriations if an agreement is reached or an arbitration award is issued requiring an appropriation before the end of the 2024 Regular Session.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) 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 Labor and Technology that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2373, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2373, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

HENRY J.C. AQUINO, Chair