STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2171

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2115

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 2115 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Amend the collective bargaining negotiation procedure on the repricing of classes within a bargaining unit for public employees;

(2) Establish an impasse procedure to be applied when an employer fails to initiate the negotiation or the parties fail to reach an agreement within certain timeframes; and

(3) Repeal existing law that requires a different impasse procedure to apply in those situations.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO; United Public Workers, AFSCME Local 646, AFL-CIO; Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association; and one individual.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Human Resources Development and the Department of Human Resources of the City and County of Honolulu.

Your Committee finds that existing law governing the collective bargaining negotiation process for the repricing of classes mandates a one-hundred fifty-day negotiating period and if the employer and exclusive representative are unable to reach an agreement within that time period, the impasse procedures under section 89-11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, apply. Your Committee finds, however, that the impasse procedures under section 89-11 are complex and lengthy, as they are intended for resolving impasses arising from new master collective bargaining agreement negotiations and therefore are not well suited for resolving impasses arising from negotiation for the repricing of specific job classifications of employees. This measure promotes the efficient resolution of impasses arising from the repricing negotiations by establishing a separate, streamlined, time-limited impasse procedure tailored to repricing disputes.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Reducing the one hundred fifty day repricing negotiating period for repricing of classes to ninety days; to further promote an efficient and timely negotiation process;

(2) Requiring the parties to alternately strike names from the list of five qualified and experienced interest arbitrators furnished by the Hawaii Labor Relations Board until a single name is left, within ten days after receipt of the list; and

(3) Inserting an effective date of January 1, 2077, to encourage further discussion;

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 S.B. No. 2115, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2115, 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,

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BRANDON J.C. ELEFANTE, Chair