STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 1040-22
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2022
RE: S.B. No. 2644
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. 2644, S.D. 2, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTRICAL CONTRACTORS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to:
(1) Extend until June 30, 2033, Act 65, Session Laws of Hawaii 2013, as extended by Act 60, Session Laws of Hawaii 2018, which provides a limited licensing exemption allowing electrical contractors licensed in Hawaii to use qualified individuals who are not licensed in the State to perform high voltage electrical work in certain circumstances; and
(2) Make permanent the requirement for the Board of Electricians and Plumbers to submit to the Legislature annual reports relating to high voltage electrical work.
Your Committee finds that this measure will
assist the State in making its infrastructure more resilient by ensuring high
voltage (six hundred volts or higher) electrical workers are available to construct
and maintain lines and perform needed substation work. However, your Committee recognizes concerns
that the exemption not be applied too broadly, and finds that a limitation on the
type of work to be performed should apply.
Your Committee also finds that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations
should not be required to receive and monitor certifications relating to the
unavailability of qualified and licensed in-state high voltage electrical
workers because the Department no longer has a Research and Statistics Office
and therefore lacks the capacity to certify occupational shortages.
Accordingly, your Committee has amended
this measure by:
(1) Limiting
the exemption to use by a public utility for high voltage electrical workers
who perform electric transmission and distribution line construction,
maintenance, and substation work;
(2) Deleting
the requirement that the public utility certify to the Director of Labor and
Industrial Relations that, after a hiring call, no electrician sufficiently
qualified and licensed in the State to perform high voltage electrical work applied
to timely perform or complete the necessary job or task before the public utility
recruited qualified electricians outside the State, so that the public utility is
required to make the certification to the Board of Electricians and Plumbers
only; 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 Labor & Tourism that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2644, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2644, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor & Tourism,
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____________________________ RICHARD H.K. ONISHI, Chair |
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