CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 30

Honolulu, Hawaii

                 , 2009

RE:    H.B. No. 643

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 2

       C.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Sir and Madam:

     Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the House of Representatives to the amendments proposed by the Senate in H.B. No. 643, H.D. 2, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CONTRACTORS,"

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 bill is to protect worker rights by allowing the Contractors Licensing Board to revoke, suspend, or refuse to renew the license of a contractor who knowingly employs individuals who are ineligible for employment within the United States on public works contracts.

Although most businesses follow the laws and rules governing their industries with regard to employment of individuals who are ineligible for employment within the United States, some unscrupulous employers take advantage of these individuals since their employment can often reduce costs.  However, the use of illegal workers cheats legal workers out of employment opportunities.

Recent events involving the construction industry resulted in the discovery of a number of these illegal workers.  According to the Pacific Resource Partnership, between December 2007 and December 2008 at least 168 illegal undocumented workers were arrested in Hawaii with approximately 103 of these workers being employed by the construction industry.

     While federal law regulates eligibility criteria for foreign workers in the United States, states retain a role in regulating state contracting and labor issues and the recent events involving the employment of illegal workers demonstrate the need for this measure.

     Your Committee on Conference has amended this bill by changing its effective date to July 1, 2009.

     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 H.B. No. 643, H.D. 2, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 643, H.D. 2, S.D. 2, C.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:

ON THE PART OF THE SENATE

ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE

____________________________ ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair	____________________________ KARL RHOADS, Co-Chair
____________________________ DWIGHT Y. TAKAMINE, Co-Chair	____________________________ JON RIKI KARAMATSU, Co-Chair
____________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Co-Chair	____________________________ ROBERT N. HERKES, Co-Chair
	____________________________ KYLE T. YAMASHITA, Co-Chair