STAND

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 492

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 962

S.D. 1

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Labor and Transportation and Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 962 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PREVAILING WAGES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to provide for the manner in which the prevailing wages for laborers and mechanics on public work projects and certain private work projects is to be established.

This measure also allows any individual to bring suit for injunctive relief for violations of chapter 104, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Hawaii Carpenters Union. Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Your Committees find that in order to ensure continuity and equitable standards among laborers and mechanics throughout the State, the applicability of the prevailing wages law should be extended to include certain types of private projects which are subsidized by the State or involve land leased by the State. Under these circumstances, State or county purposes are served, therefore warranting inclusion under the State's Davis Bacon Act, chapter 104, Hawaii Revised Statutes. Your Committees further find that the determination of prevailing wages is currently the responsibility of the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations with a formula and guidelines established in the administrative rules. In order to provide clear guidance on the calculation of prevailing wages, your Committees determine that codification of these rules is necessary.

Additionally, the law currently fails to contemplate a remedy for an aggrieved individual to enjoin a contractor from continuous violations of chapter 104, Hawaii Revised Statute, although recovery of unpaid wages is provided for. Your Committees determine that other forms of redress should be provided to further ensure enforcement of the law and to protect other contractors from falling subject to unfair competition.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the definition of "public work" to include:

(A) Projects subsidized by state tax credits or county tax exemptions, or those undertaken through the use of state or county land;

(B) Contracts between private persons when more than twenty-five percent of the property is leased for use by the State and:

(i) The lease is entered into prior to the effective date of the contact; or

(ii) Construction work is performed pursuant to plan, specifications, or criteria established by the State or county;

(2) Deleting language that provided for rate clarification regarding the prevailing wage where there is no majority of those employed by the State who are paid at the same rate as corresponding classes of laborers or mechanics on similar projects; and

(3) Clarifying that a civil action for injunctive relief may be brought by any individual against any person alleged to be in violation of the chapter 104, or the director for failure to act under any duty imposed by chapter 104.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Labor and Transportation and Government Operations that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 962, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 962, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Labor and Transportation and Government Operations,

____________________________ LORRAINE R. INOUYE, Chair		____________________________ BRIAN KANNO, Chair