STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1391-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: S.B. No. 2298

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor & Tourism, to which was referred S.B. No. 2298, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WAGES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to increase the penalty for employers who fail to pay the wages of their employees in accordance with chapter 387, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the wage and hour law, and chapter 388, Hawaii Revised Statutes, governing payment of wages and other compensation, to a class C felony.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada, AFL-CIO, CLC, Local 665; Hawaii State AFL-CIO; and one individual. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that state labor laws should vigorously protect workers from employers who fail to pay their employees. The State's most economically vulnerable workers are job insecure and deterring wage theft protects low-wage earners in particular. By increasing penalties, this measure holds employers who violate wage and hour laws or other compensation laws accountable.

Your Committee has amended this measure by 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 Labor & Tourism that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2298, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2298, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor & Tourism,

____________________________

RICHARD H.K. ONISHI, Chair