STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2715

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2366

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2366, S.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to make the operations and proceedings of the Hawaii Labor Relations Board more efficient.

Specifically, the measure:

(1) Authorizes the Hawaii Labor Relations Board to deliver its orders and decisions to parties electronically, and through a company designated by the board;

(2) Extends, from forty days to ninety days, the time to hold a hearing on a complaint;

(3) Establishes a collective bargaining dispute resolution special fund; and

(4) Appropriates funds to the Hawaii Labor Relations Board for one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) attorney position, one full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) chief clerk position, and travel and interpreter costs.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Hawaii Labor Relations Board and one individual.

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General and the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committee finds that the electronic delivery of orders and decisions may reduce costs for the State. Your Committee also believes that extending the allowable period to hold hearings on complaints provides more time for any necessary discovery matters. Your Committee further finds that an additional attorney and chief clerk position for the Hawaii Labor Relations Board will enable the Board to render its decisions more efficiently.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting an amendment to section 91-12, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to address concerns expressed by the Department of the Attorney General; and

(2) Making technical nonsubstantive changes for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

Your Committee notes the concerns expressed by the Department of Budget and Finance that it is not clear whether the collective bargaining dispute resolution fund meets the statutory criteria to establish a special fund. Accordingly, your Committee respectfully requests that subsequent Committees to which this measure is referred consider this issue.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2366, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2366, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair