STAND. COM. REP. NO. 310

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: H.B. No. 163

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 Labor & Government Operations, to which was referred H.B. No. 163 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Require the employer to initiate negotiations on repricing of classes within a bargaining unit within thirty days of its receipt of the exclusive representative's written request to negotiate; and

(2) Establish that the employer's failure to initiate the negotiation within that time frame and the parties' failure to reach an agreement within ninety days of the exclusive representative's written request to negotiate, or by January 31 of a year in which the collective bargaining agreement is due to expire, whichever is earlier, constitute an impasse to which the impasse procedures apply.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers; Hawai‘i Association of School Psychologists; and Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Human Resources Development 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 repricing means the reassignment of classes within a bargaining unit from one pay range to another in the same salary schedule based on appropriate factors. Repricing occurs when the pay range of a class is not in proper alignment with other classes in the same bargaining unit. Your Committee further finds that under the existing process, it is difficult for employees to seek the repricing of their classes. By providing mandatory time frames within which repricing negotiations must be initiated and an agreement reached, the failure of which would trigger impasse procedures, this measure will ensure that public employees are being paid competitive and fair wages, which will in turn allow employers to better recruit and retain qualified workers.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that repricing requests can only be submitted once per occupation, not per bargaining unit, in any eighteen-month period;

(2) Changing the effective date to June 30, 3000, to encourage further discussion; 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 Labor & Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 163, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 163, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the

Committee on Labor & Government Operations,

____________________________

SCOT Z. MATAYOSHI, Chair