STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2805

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2780

       S.D. 2

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2780, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC WORKS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to broaden the definition of "public work" to include a construction contract between private parties that use state or county land for commercial activity.

     More specifically, the measure specifies that a construction contract must be valued at $500 or more to qualify as a "public work" and requires copies of qualifying land leases to be filed with the department of accounting and general services.

     Testimony in support of the measure was received from the Hawaii Carpenters Union.  Testimony opposing the measure was received from the Department of Accounting and General Services, the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, and the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

     Your Committee finds that state land is currently used for a wide variety of private activities and that this measure will help ensure that state wage and hour laws are recognized and enforced in construction projects that involve state or county land.

     Your Committee has amended the measure by making a technical correction, raising the threshold of a "public work" construction contract from $500 to $500,000.

     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 S.B. No. 2780, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2780, S.D. 2.

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

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair