Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2921 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make an emergency appropriation of funds to pay collective bargaining increases for Department of Education employees.

Department of Education employees in collective bargaining units 1 and 5 received increases in wages effective January 1, 2003 and January 21, 2003, respectively. However, these mid-year increases were inadvertently omitted from the Governor's biennium budget proposal. Accordingly, this emergency appropriation is needed to fund the increases for the first year of the biennium.

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. 2921 and recommends that it pass Third Reading.