STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2719

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 2893
                                        S.D. 1




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

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B.
No. 2893 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MINIMUM WAGE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to increase the minimum wage
from $5.25 per hour to fifty cents more than the federal minimum
wage as of July 1, 2001.

     Your Committee finds that the high cost of living in Hawaii
and the stagnant economy has formed an almost intolerable burden
on low-income families.  Many of these families have wage earners
who earn minimum wage, or who are service employees who rely on
tips to supplement their wages.  The state minimum wage has not
been raised since 1993, while inflation has eroded the value of
these wages.  An increase in the minimum wage would give these
workers the additional funds they need to survive in Hawaii.

     The bill raises the minimum wage fifty cents an hour above
the federal minimum wage, which at this point is below state
minimum wage at $5.15 per hour.  This will result in a new state
minimum wage of $5.65 per hour.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by increasing the
minimum wage to 25 cents over the current state minimum wage, to
$5.50 per hour, effective July 1, 2001; and an additional 25
cents above that, or to $5.75 per hour, on July 1, 2002;

 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2719
                                   Page 2


increasing the tip credit from twenty cents per hour to forty
cents per hour; and adding language that provides that if a hotel
or restaurant applies a service charge to the bill, they must
either pass the service charge on to their employees or else
notify the purchaser that the service charge will not go to the
employees.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No.
2893, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third
Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2893, S.D. 1.

                                 Respectfully submitted on behalf
                                 of the members of the Committee
                                 on Ways and Means,



                                 ________________________________
                                 CAROL FUKUNAGA, Co-Chair



                                 ________________________________
                                 ANDREW LEVIN, Co-Chair

 
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