Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred S.B. No. 87, S.D. 2, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to assist substitute teachers of the Department of Education (DOE) by:

The Hawaii Government Employees Association, Substitute Teachers Professional Alliance, Inc., and a concerned individual testified in support of this measure. The Department of Human Resources Development offered comments.

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. It has been brought to the attention of your Committee that substitute teachers are at times treated differently by school administrators and their peers depending upon the situation at the public school to which the substitute is assigned. Substitute teachers were also recently forced to file a class action lawsuit to recover back pay from DOE.

Your Committee finds that these problems may have been avoided if substitute teachers had proper representation through a collective bargaining unit. The creation of such a unit for substitute teachers 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 & Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 87, S.D. 2, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.