STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1115

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1039

H.D. 1

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 H.B. No. 1039, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT COST ITEMS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for collective bargaining cost items for the members of bargaining unit (14) and their excluded counterparts, including the cost of salary adjustments negotiated between the State and the bargaining unit representative for fiscal biennium 2025-2027.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance and Hawaii Government Employees Association AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO.

Your Committee finds that the negotiations for collective bargaining agreements for bargaining unit (14) are currently in progress. This measure provides a legislative vehicle that can be used if an agreement is reached or an arbitration award is issued prior to the end of the 2025 Regular Session.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language declaring that the general fund expenditure ceiling has been exceeded;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

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 H.B. No. 1039, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1039, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

HENRY J.C. AQUINO, Chair