STAND. COM. REP. NO.  910

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2011

RE:   H.B. No. 1034

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 1034 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to appropriate and authorize emergency funds for health premium payments to fund Fiscal Biennium 2009-2011 Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund costs contained in the agreement negotiated with the exclusive bargaining representative of Collective Bargaining Units 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 13, and their excluded counterparts.

     Pursuant to the requirements set forth in Article VII, Section 9, of the Hawaii State Constitution, the Governor, in his Governor's Message No. 98 to the Legislature, requested immediate consideration and passage of this bill by the Legislature citing an existing critical funding shortage.

     The Department of Budget and Finance and Hawaii Government Employees Association testified in support of this bill.  A concerned individual testified in opposition to this measure.

     Your Committee notes that the emergency appropriation contained in this measure is for the purpose of supplementing the funding for the employer contribution to the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund for the period March 1, 2011, up to and including June 30, 2011, in response to a Memorandum of Agreement entered into on December 23, 2010, between the employer and the union.

     Your Committee further notes that the Memorandum of Agreement, by its own terms, is effective on March 1, 2011, up to and including June 30, 2011.

     Therefore, this emergency appropriation is simply an appropriation for the current fiscal year and is not and should not be construed as an approval or agreement by the Legislature to any cost item or any level of employer contribution after June 30, 2011.

     Your Committee has amended this bill by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1034, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1034, H.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

____________________________

MARCUS R. OSHIRO, Chair