STAND. COM. REP. NO.  798-14

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2014

RE:   H.B. No. 1976

      H.D. 2

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 1976, H.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 ensure that Hawaii's wage and hour law is strictly enforced on public construction projects by:

     (1)  Establishing the Wage and Hour for Public Works Projects Special Fund (Special Fund) to fund enforcement activities on public construction projects by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (Department);

     (2)  Requiring state departments receiving appropriations of capital improvement project funds to transfer a percentage of those appropriations into the Special Fund;

     (3)  Specifying that expenditures for creating positions, hiring, and training personnel for enforcement purposes are allowable expenditures from the Special Fund;

     (4)  Requiring the Department to provide to the Legislature an annual status report of the Special Fund; and

     (5)  Establishing two full-time equivalent permanent Labor Law Enforcement Specialist IV positions within the Department to enforce Hawaii's wage and hour law and appropriating funds for the positions.

The Hawaii Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust; Hawaii Operating Engineers Industry Stabilization Fund; Hawaii Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO; Building Industry Association of Hawaii; Plumbers and Fitters United Association, Local 675; Pacific Resource Partnership; and Laborers' International Union of North America, Local 368 testified in support of this measure.  The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Department of Accounting and General Services, General Contractors Association, and Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters provided comments on this measure.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Making the appropriation an unspecified amount;

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2030, to encourage further discussion; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of 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. 1976, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1976, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair