STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1066

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: H.B. No. 1398

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1398, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to create a new bargaining unit for telecommunications and emergency dispatchers and employees who perform similar functions employed by the State and counties.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Homeland Security; Office of the Mayor of the County of Maui; one member of the Maui County Council; Honolulu Police Department; Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO; and nineteen individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Office of Collective Bargaining of the Executive Office of the Governor and Department of Human Resources of the City and County of Honolulu. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committee finds that emergency communications personnel provide the vital link between those in need of help and the emergency service workers who provide that assistance. Their role, like others in emergency services, requires specialized training unfit for most other careers; long and unpredictable work shifts that require someone posted twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week; and a particular mindset able to deal with the stresses of these duties. This measure would help to differentiate emergency call operators from clerical staff and place them in a specialized unit more similar to other emergency units.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1398, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair