STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1253-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: S.B. No. 2615

S.D. 1

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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 2615, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COUNTY LABOR STANDARDS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize the counties to require employers to disclose information regarding its employees' wages, benefits, hours, and employment status and deny, revoke, or suspend a building permit application for violating laws relating to wages, benefits, hours, and employment status, under certain conditions.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; Office of the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu; one member of the Hawai‘i County Council; two members of the Maui County Council; two members of the Honolulu City Council; Hawaii Regional Council on Carpenters; and Pacific Resource Partnership. Your Committee received comments on this measure from General Contractors Association of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that there have been recent reports of labor abuse at certain construction projects in the State with workers being subjected to unsafe conditions, wage theft, and being denied required benefits. Your Committee believes that the authority given to the counties in this measure will help stop unscrupulous actors more efficiently, thereby ensuring workers in the State are working under just and fair conditions.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that a denial, revocation, or suspension of a building permit is permissible only when the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, United States Department of Labor, or a judicial order has determined that a violation of law has occurred; and

(2) 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 Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2615, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2615, S.D. 1, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

DAVID A. TARNAS, Chair