STAND. COM. REP. NO.  872

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2013

RE:   H.B. No. 1172

      H.D. 2

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 1172, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish a collective bargaining unit for state law enforcement officers and state and county ocean safety and water safety officers.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources; Honolulu Emergency Services Department, Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services Division, City and County of Honolulu; Hawaiian Lifeguard Association; Hawaii Government Employees Association; and seventeen concerned individuals submitted testimony in support of the measure.

     The Department of Budget and Finance and Department of Public Safety submitted comments on the measure.

     Your Committee finds that state law enforcement officers and state and county ocean safety and water safety officers risk their own well-being to protect the lives and safety of others on a daily basis.  Your Committee further finds that collective bargaining is a constitutionally and statutorily protected right, and the creation of a new bargaining unit would address the specialized labor concerns of these officers.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date to July 1, 2030, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

     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. 1172, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1172, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair