Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor and Public Employment, to which was referred S.B. No. 1426, S.D. 1, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to:

The Laborers' International Union of North America Local 386, AFL-CIO testified in support of this bill. The Department of Education opposed this measure.

Substitute teachers provide a valuable service to the State's educational system. However, these individuals are currently without any form of representation within the public school system. Moreover, your Committee was informed that oftentimes, depending upon the situation at the public school the substitute is assigned to, substitute teachers are treated like second-class citizens, at times being asked to clean bathrooms, make coffee, and perform clerical services for permanent, full-time instructors. Your Committee finds that this problem can be mitigated through the establishment of a new collective bargaining unit for substitute teachers that would allow for fair and equal representation and give them the ability to collectively bargain for better working conditions.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor and Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1426, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.