News

Friday, February 28 was First Decking at the Legislature, where all bills must be in final form and made available to the House and Senate members 48 hours prior to being voted on in Third Reading.
 
Today, March 3 is a Recess day where both Chambers are conducting their final review of all pending bills, and tomorrow, March 4, is when the House and Senate will vote on measures for Third Reading. Thursday, March 6 is Crossover, where all moving House bills will cross to the Senate and all moving Senate bills will cross to the House. After Crossover, the House and Senate leadership will again review and refer bills to different subject matter committees. The committee chairs will then have the opportunity to hear non-originating bills (the House will hear Senate bills, the Senate will hear House bills), within the next few weeks. 2nd Lateral is March 28, where all bills with more than one committee referral must be in the final committee.



HGEA Introduced Bills: We SUPPORT


Collective Bargaining/EUTF Funding Bills for Units 6, 9 and 14

• H.B. 1956, H.B. 2220, H.B. 1955 – pending referral - passed Third Reading, crossed to Senate, passed First Reading

•  S.B. 2073, S.B. 2074, S.B. 2075 - JDL (Judiciary & Labor), WAM (Ways and Means) - scheduled for Third Reading on March 4

Final Positions for Arbitration – only proposals submitted prior to impasse included in the final position

• H.B. 1977, H.D. 2 – LAB (Labor), FIN (Finance) – scheduled for Third Reading on March 4
• S.B. 2259, S.D. 1 – JDL, WAM – scheduled for Third Reading on March 4

Hawaii Labor Relations Board Labor Seat – requires Governor to select Labor seat from a list provided by Exclusive Representatives

• H.B. 2496, H.D. 1 – LAB, JUD (Judiciary) – scheduled for Third Reading on March 4

Exempt Employee Conversion – converts exempt employees into civil service, creates sunset for new exempts

• H.B. 2218, H.D. 1 – pending referral – passed Third Reading, crossed to Senate
• S.B. 3099, S.D. 1 – JDL, WAM – scheduled for Third Reading on March 4

Administration Exempt Bills – We OPPOSE exempting from Civil Service
This session the Abercrombie Administration proposed a variety of bills, listed below, which exempt employees from civil service. Exempt employees do not share the same rights and benefits as Civil Service employees, including discipline and reduction-in-force protections, overtime and step movements. These types of exemptions have become all too prevalent and are inconsistent with the purpose and intent of the Hawaii State Constitution and Ch. 76, Hawaii Revised Statutes. We oppose these measures and are working toward equal protection for all of our members.

• S.B. 2228: Alzheimer’s Disease Coordinator
• S.B. 2796: Attorney General – Major Litigation Unit
• S.B. 2849: Privacy Officer & Security Officer
• S.B. 2845: DHS Med Assistance Program
• S.B. 2858: Environmental Information Management Office
• S.B. 2885: PSD Mental Health Branch
• H.B. 2056: Alzheimer’s Disease Coordinator
• H.B. 2295: DHS Med Assistance Program
• H.B. 2299: Privacy Officer & Security Officer
• H.B. 2247: Attorney General – Major Litigation Unit
• H.B. 2308: Environmental Information Management Office
• H.B. 2335: PSD Mental Health Branch

Bills of Interest

Minimum Wage Increase: SUPPORT

• S.B. 2609, S.D. 1 (JDL, WAM) – scheduled for Third Reading on March 4
• H.B. 2580, H.D. 1 (LAB, FIN) – scheduled for Third Reading on March 4

Reduces Sick Leave Calculation for prospective Employees: OPPOSE

• H.B. 2263, H.D. 2 – scheduled for Third Reading on March 4

Transition Framework for HHSC: OPPOSE

• H.B. 2192 - HLT (Health), LAB, FIN – deferred indefinitely
• S.B. 2949 - HTH (Health)/CPN (Commerce and Consumer Protection)/JDL, WAM) – deferred indefinitely
• S.B. 3064, S.D. 2 (HTH, WAM) – scheduled for Third Reading on March 4

Our legislative priorities as well as the full listing of the bills we are tracking can be found on the 2014 Legislative page of the HGEA website: www.hgea.org/session2014. We will continue to update you as session goes on; however, you can stay up to date by visiting our legislative page regularly.