Report Title:

Employer-Union Trust Fund; Negotiable Employer Contributions

Description:

Makes negotiable the employers' contribution for a health benefits plan as either a specified percentage or dollar amount.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1315

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to the hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. Section 87A-32, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) The State, through the department of budget and finance, and the counties, through their respective departments of finance, shall pay to the fund a monthly contribution equal to the percentage or dollar amount established under chapter 89C or specified in the applicable public sector collective bargaining agreements, whichever is appropriate, for each of their respective employee-beneficiaries and employee-beneficiaries with dependent-beneficiaries, which shall be used toward the payment of costs of a health benefits plan; provided that:

(1) The monthly contribution shall be either a specified percentage or dollar amount;

(2) The monthly contribution shall not exceed the actual cost of a health benefits plan;

(3) If both husband and wife are employee-beneficiaries, the total contribution by the State or the county shall not exceed the monthly contribution for a family plan; and

(4) If the State or any of the counties establish cafeteria plans in accordance with Title 26, United States Code section 125, the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and part II of chapter 78, the monthly contribution for those employee-beneficiaries who participate in a cafeteria plan shall be made through the cafeteria plan, and the payments made by the State or counties shall include their respective contributions to the fund and their employee-beneficiary's share of the cost of the employee-beneficiary's health benefits plan."

SECTION 2. Section 89-9, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:

1. By amending subsection (a) to read:

"(a) The employer and the exclusive representative shall meet at reasonable times, including meetings sufficiently in advance of the April 16 impasse date under section 89-11, and shall negotiate in good faith with respect to wages, hours, the percentage or dollar amounts of contributions by the State and respective counties to the Hawaii [public employees health] employer-union health benefits trust fund to the extent allowed in subsection (e), and other terms and conditions of employment which are subject to collective bargaining and which are to be embodied in a written agreement as specified in section 89-10, but such obligation does not compel either party to agree to a proposal or make a concession; provided that the parties may not negotiate with respect to cost items as defined by section 89-2 for the biennium 1999 to 2001, and the cost items of employees in bargaining units under section 89-6 in effect on June 30, 1999, shall remain in effect until July 1, 2001."

2. By amending subsections (d) and (e) to read:

"(d) Excluded from the subjects of negotiations are matters of classification, reclassification, benefits of but not contributions to the Hawaii [public employees health] employer-union health benefits trust fund, recruitment, examination, initial pricing, and retirement benefits except as provided in section 88-8(h). The employer and the exclusive representative shall not agree to any proposal which would be inconsistent with the merit principle or the principle of equal pay for equal work pursuant to section 76-1 or which would interfere with the rights and obligations of a public employer to:

(1) Direct employees;

(2) Determine qualifications, standards for work, and the nature and contents of examinations;

(3) Hire, promote, transfer, assign, and retain employees in positions;

(4) Suspend, demote, discharge, or take other disciplinary action against employees for proper cause;

(5) Relieve an employee from duties because of lack of work or other legitimate reason;

(6) Maintain efficiency and productivity, including maximizing the use of advanced technology, in government operations;

(7) Determine methods, means, and personnel by which the employer's operations are to be conducted; and

(8) Take such actions as may be necessary to carry out the missions of the employer in cases of emergencies.

The employer and the exclusive representative may negotiate procedures governing the promotion and transfer of employees to positions within a bargaining unit; the suspension, demotion, discharge, or other disciplinary actions taken against employees within the bargaining unit; and the layoff of employees within the bargaining unit. Violations of the procedures so negotiated may be subject to the grievance procedure in the collective bargaining agreement.

(e) Negotiations relating to contributions to the Hawaii [public employees health] employer-union health benefits trust fund shall be for the purpose of agreeing upon the percentage or dollar amounts which the State and counties shall contribute under section [87-4,] 87A-32 toward the payment of the costs for a health benefits plan, as defined in section [87-1(8),] 87A-1, and group life insurance benefits, and the parties shall not be bound by the amounts contributed under prior agreements; provided that section 89-11 for the resolution of disputes by way of arbitration shall not be available to resolve impasses or disputes relating to the amounts the State and counties shall contribute to the Hawaii [public employees health] employer-union health benefits trust fund."

SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect upon its approval; provided that section 2 shall take effect on July 1, 2003.

INTRODUCED BY:

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