STAND. COM. REP. NO. 350

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1034

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 1034 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE FOOD SERVICE INDUSTRY,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require employers in the food service industry to allow their employees an unpaid rest period of thirty consecutive minutes for each five consecutive hours of working time, effective January 1, 2026.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaiʻi Restaurant Association.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from ABC Stores.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and Hawaii Food Industry Association.

Your Committee finds that food service workers provide a vital service to the State but often suffer from inadequate workers' protections. No State law currently requires meal breaks for food service employees, leading to instances of abuse in which employees are denied sufficient time to rest and eat despite working on their feet for long hours. This measure resolves this gap by requiring employers in the food service industry to allow their employees a thirty-minute unpaid rest period following five consecutive hours of work.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a blank amount for the number of hours after which an employee must be allowed an unpaid break, rather than five hours;

(2) Inserting a definition for "food service industry"; and

(3) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor and Technology that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1034, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1034, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor and Technology,

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HENRY J.C. AQUINO, Chair