STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1575

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1568

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1568 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR COLLECTIVE BARGAINING COST ITEMS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to pay for collective bargaining cost items, salary increases, and cost adjustments for employees in collective bargaining unit (5) and their excluded counterparts.

     Your Committee received comments from the Office of Collective Bargaining.

     Your Committee finds that negotiations between the State and the exclusive representative of collective bargaining unit (5) are currently in progress.  Accordingly, this measure must be kept alive as a vehicle for making the necessary appropriations.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Appropriating funds for the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund costs;

     (2)  Specifying a figure of $1 for each item of appropriation; and

     (3)  Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

     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 H.B. No. 1568, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1568, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair