STAND. COM. REP. NO. 366

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1040

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 1040 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH LAW,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to change the civil penalty amounts and additional criminal fines to unspecified amounts for violations of the Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Law (HIOSH).

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, ILWU Local 142, and the Hawaii Laborers' Union.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Roofing Contractors Association of Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds the current penalties for violations of HIOSH were last increased in 1992, under a Congressional mandate.  As noted in the testimony submitted by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Congressional and state intent is for penalties to be sufficient to provide deterrence for employers who choose to disregard their obligations to provide a safe and healthy workplace.  While the Department has been seeking to prevent workplace accidents through a mix of incentives for those employers who want to but cannot comply with HIOSH and disincentives for employers who repeatedly choose to disregard HIOSH, the amount of penalties should be updated to adequately fulfill that disincentive function.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on this measure particularly the appropriate penalty amounts.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1040, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1040, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair