HR28

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	28
THIRTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2025
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

urging the LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE bureau to conduct a study on the economic, social, and fiscal impact of the kapiolani hospital nurses strike and lockout to the state.

WHEREAS, there are currently 14,545 licensed registered nurses in the State; and

WHEREAS, forty-eight per cent of nurses work in hospital settings; and

WHEREAS, nurses are often understaffed and over-scheduled, resulting in burnout; and

WHEREAS, some nurses have reported that their supervisors are assigning them too many patients at a time which in turn hurts their well-being and their ability to provide adequate care to their patients; and

WHEREAS, these unideal working conditions prompted contention between nurses and the Kapiolani Medical Center's administration resulting in a strike in September of 2024; and

WHEREAS, nurses who chose to participate in the strike were informed by the administration that such action would result in a lockout, which is the exclusion of employees by their employer from their place of work until certain terms are agreed to; and

WHEREAS, on September 14, 2024, Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children locked out more than six hundred nurses following a one-day strike that took place a day earlier; and

WHEREAS, the lockout went on to last for twenty-two days, resulting in significantly reduced medical staff; and

WHEREAS, in the absence of staff, traveling nurses were brought in to supplement staffing ratios; and

WHEREAS, a traveling nurse earns ten to fifteen per cent more than a staff registered nurse in a permanent position and roughly twice as much per week; and

WHEREAS, on October 2, 2024, Hawaii Nurses Association nurses approved a new contract with Kapiolani Medical Center that limits the number of patients per nurse and boosts their pay; and

WHEREAS, every nurse will receive a raise, with an average increase of three and a half per cent annually over the course of four years; and

WHEREAS, throughout the duration of the lockout, it is reported that the State incurred an economic and social impact with unknown costs; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2025, the Legislative Reference Bureau is urged to conduct a study on the economic and social impact of the Kapiolani Hospital strike and lockout, and its cost to taxpayers, families, and safety; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED the Legislative Reference Bureau is urged to publish its report and provide the Legislature its findings no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2026; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the Legislative Reference Bureau.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________