Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the Senate to the amendments proposed by the House of Representatives in S.B. No. 3197, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:

having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.

The purpose of this measure is to set and provide moneys for substitute teacher classification and compensation rates that are consistent with those determined by the legislature in 1996, and with the recommendations of the Department of Education (DOE).

The intent of this measure is to provide relief to Hawaii's substitute teachers while the long-standing dispute in Garner v. Doe (Civil No. 03-1-000305) and Kliternick v. Hamamoto (Civil No. 05-1-0031-01) is being litigated. These lawsuits were filed in 2000, and have been the source of contentious dispute between substitute teachers and the DOE. On December 16, 2005, Judge Karen Ahn ruled that the DOE failed to pay substitute teachers a per diem salary based upon the 1996 formula enacted by the Legislature. The Attorney General intends to appeal both lawsuits, potentially extending the length of this dispute to nearly a decade.

Your Committee on Conference finds that substitute teachers play an integral role in Hawaii's public education system. On any given day, about 1,000 substitute teachers fill in for approximately 12,000 regular, full-time teachers. Similar to Act 70, Session Laws of Hawaii 2005, this measure provides an interim pay rate for substitute teachers until Garner v. Doe and Kliternick v. Hamamoto are resolved. At that time, this Committee urges the Legislature to make appropriate adjustments, including retroactive pay adjustments, to substitute teacher pay in accord with the appellate court's final ruling.

Your Committee on Conference has amended this measure to omit all references to the measure as a vehicle to settle the on-going civil litigation between the DOE and plaintiff substitute teachers, and to insert dollar amounts in the pay scale.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3197, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3197, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, C.D. 1.