A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. Section 88-8, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:

1. By amending subsection (a) to read:

"(a) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the board of regents may establish without regard to the public notice or public hearing requirements of chapter 91, a retirement system separate from the state employees' retirement system to provide retirement allowances and other benefits for University of Hawaii employees who are:

2. By amending subsections (f) to (h) to read:

"(f) Any member of the state employees' retirement system when the optional retirement system of the University of Hawaii is established who is also:

shall remain a member of the state employees' retirement system unless the person elects in writing on a form prescribed by the board of regents to terminate the person's membership. The form shall be submitted to the state employees' retirement system no later than ninety days after the establishment of the optional retirement system of the University of Hawaii.

(g) Any person hired after the establishment of the optional retirement system of the University of Hawaii who is:

shall elect to be a member of the state employees' retirement system or the optional retirement system of the University of Hawaii. Upon an election the person may not transfer from one system to the other.

(h) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, retirement benefits for the optional retirement system of the University of Hawaii shall be a subject of collective bargaining negotiations for bargaining [unit] units (7)[.] and (14)."

SECTION 2. Section 89-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsections (a) and (b) to read as follows:

"(a) All employees throughout the State within any of the following categories shall constitute an appropriate bargaining unit:

Because of the nature of work involved and the essentiality of certain occupations that require specialized training, units (9) through [(13)] (14) are designated as optional appropriate bargaining units. Employees in any of these optional units may vote either for separate units or for inclusion in their respective units (1) through (4). If a majority of the employees in any optional unit desire to constitute a separate appropriate bargaining unit, supervisory employees may be included in the unit by mutual agreement among supervisory and nonsupervisory employees within the unit; if supervisory employees are excluded, the appropriate bargaining unit for these supervisory employees shall be (2) or (4), as the case may be.

The compensation plans for blue-collar positions pursuant to section 77-5 and for white-collar positions pursuant to section 77-13, the salary schedules for teachers pursuant to section 302A-624 and for educational officers pursuant to section 302A-625, and the appointment and classification of faculty pursuant to sections 304-11 and 304-13, existing on July 1, 1970, shall be the bases for differentiating blue-collar from white-collar employees, professional from institutional, health and correctional workers, supervisory from nonsupervisory employees, teachers from educational officers, and faculty from nonfaculty. In differentiating supervisory from nonsupervisory employees, class titles alone shall not be the basis for determination, but, in addition, the nature of the work, including whether or not a major portion of the working time of a supervisory employee is spent as part of a crew or team with nonsupervisory employees, shall also be considered.

(b) For the purpose of negotiations, the public employer of an appropriate bargaining unit shall mean the governor or the governor's designated representatives of not less than three together with not more than two members of the board of education in the case of units (5) and (6), the governor or the governor's designated representatives of not less than three together with not more than two members of the board of regents of the University of Hawaii in the case of units (7) [and], (8), and (14) and the governor or the governor's designated representatives together with the mayors of all the counties or their designated representatives in the case of the remaining units. The designated employer representatives for units (5), (6), (7), [and], (8), and (14) shall each have one vote and in the case of the remaining units, the governor shall be entitled to four votes and the mayor of each county shall each have one vote, which may be assigned to their designated representatives. Any decision to be reached by the applicable employer group shall be on the basis of simple majority."

SECTION 3. Act 253, Session Laws of Hawaii 2000, is amended by amending section 96 as follows:

1. By amending subsections (a) and (b) of section 89-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes to read:

"(a) All employees throughout the State within any of the following categories shall constitute an appropriate bargaining unit:

(b) Because of the nature of work involved and the essentiality of certain occupations that require specialized training, supervisory employees who are eligible for inclusion in units (9) through [(13)] (14) shall be included in units (9) through [(13),] (14), respectively, instead of unit (2) or (4)."

2. By amending subsection (d) to read:

"(d) For the purpose of negotiating a collective bargaining agreement, the public employer of an appropriate bargaining unit shall mean the governor together with the following employers:

Any decision to be reached by the applicable employer group shall be on the basis of simple majority, except when a bargaining unit includes county employees from more than one county. In such case, the simple majority shall include at least one county."

SECTION 4. Section 100 of Act 253, Session Laws of Hawaii 2000, is amended by amending subsection (d) of section 89-11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to read as follows:

"(d) If an impasse exists between a public employer and the exclusive bargaining representative of bargaining unit (1), nonsupervisory employees in blue collar positions; bargaining unit (5), teachers and other personnel of the department of education; [or] bargaining unit (7), faculty of the University of Hawaii [and the community college system,]; bargaining unit (14), the faculty of the community college system, the board shall assist in the resolution of the impasse as follows:

SECTION 5. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.