Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Economic Development and Business Concerns, to which was referred H.B. No. 389 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to establish labor representation procedures in real property development projects in which the State or counties have an ongoing proprietary interest.

The Hawaii Building and Construction Trades Council, the Hawaii State AFL-CIO, and the Ironworkers Stabilization Fund testified in support of this bill.

Your Committee finds that this bill will avoid the additional costs when labor-management conflicts occur in development projects in which the State or a county has proprietary interest. Specifically, this bill will require certain employers to agree to nonconfrontational and expeditious procedures by which their workers can register their preference regarding union representation. This procedure is referred to as "crosscheck" or "card check". This alternative procedure will encourage State and county participation in these projects by preventing construction delays, work stoppages, picketing, strikes, consumer boycotts, and similar problems when formal and adversarial union certification processes deteriorate into protracted and acrimonious labor-management conflict.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Economic Development and Business Concerns that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 389 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committees on Labor and Public Employment and Judiciary.