STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2525

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2707

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 2707 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:

(1) Require the employer to initiate negotiations on repricing of classes within a bargaining unit within thirty days of the employer's receipt of a written request to negotiate from the exclusive representative; and

(2) Establish that the employer's failure to initiate the negotiation for repricing within the thirty-day time frame and the parties' failure to reach an agreement within ninety days of the exclusive representative's written request to negotiate or by January 31 of a year in which the collective bargaining agreement is due to expire, whichever is earlier, constitute an impasse to which the impasse procedures in section 89-11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, shall apply.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the United Public Workers, AFSCME Local 646, AFL-CIO and Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL‑CIO. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Human Resources Development. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance, City and County of Honolulu Department of Human Resources, and County of Hawai‘i Department of Human Resources.

Your Committee finds that it is extremely difficult for employees to seek the repricing of their classifications under the existing process. Employers may deny the employees' repricing requests by merely announcing its determination that all current position pricing is appropriate without providing a basis, and there are no venues for the employees to appeal or adjudicate the employer's determination. This measure gives the parties a reasonable time frame to negotiate the repricing of classes within a bargaining unit and a process the parties may follow in the event the employer fails to negotiate or the parties fail to reach an agreement within a certain time frame. Your Committee finds that this measure will ensure that public employees are being paid competitive and fair wages, which will allow the employers to recruit and retain qualified workers.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2707 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts,

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BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair