STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2342

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 2061
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Labor and Environment, to which was
referred S.B. No. 2061 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES
     AND EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to promote fair pay by
requiring state departments to disclose certain wage information
to civil service employees and to compile and record information
pertaining to employee positions, wages, and demographic
characteristics.  The measure also establishes a fair pay pilot
project to be implemented by the civil service commission to
review the data compiled by state departments and determine
whether inequities based on gender, race, or national origin
exist in particular jobs or positions.

     Testimony in support of the measure was received from the
Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Department of
Community Services of the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii
State Commission on the Status of Women, Hawaii Civil Rights
Commission, HGEA-AFSCME, PACT, American Friends Service
Committee, Hawaii Women Lawyers, and two individuals.  Testimony
in opposition to the measure was received from the Department of
Human Resources Development.

     Your Committee finds that the Equal Pay Act of 1963
prohibits discrimination in compensation for "equal work" on the
basis of sex, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2342
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prohibits discrimination in compensation because of race, color,
religion, national origin, and/or sex.  However, inequities still
exist.  In 1963, women earned 61 cents to a man's dollar.  Today,
in Hawaii, women earn 82 cents to a man's dollar or $99 less per
week and women of color earn 80 cents to a man's dollar or $113
less per week.

     Your Committee believes that the State as an employer should
set an example by addressing pay inequities among civil service
employees.  This measure establishes procedures to do so.

     Your Committee amended the measure by replacing its contents
with provisions that:

     (1)  Require the director of human resources development to
          make and retain records rather than causing each
          department to provide every civil service employee with
          a written statement;

     (2)  Require examination of the data to determine if there
          is a concentration of employees by gender and, if
          appropriate, whether there is discrimination against
          women with regard to wages or access to positions and
          whether other gender-neutral factors account for the
          difference; and

     (3)  Establish the pay equity task force to review materials
          and make recommendations to the legislature to correct
          gender pay equities.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Labor and Environment that is attached to this
report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose
of S.B. No. 2061, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass
Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2061,
S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   BOB NAKATA, Chair

 
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