THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

13

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

REQUESTING HAWAII'S CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO ENSURE THAT at least eighty per cent of federal expenditures remain in hawaii, and THE RIGHTS OF LOCAL UNION LABOR TO FAIR WAGES UNDER THE DAVIS-BACON ACT ARE NOT CIRCUMVENTED, ON THE U.S. MILITARY PRIVATIZATION CONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS FOR IMPROVEMENTS ON HAWAII MILITARY BASES.

 

WHEREAS, the United States Army, Navy, and Air Force are planning to undertake the largest ever construction improvements to military bases on Oahu, known as the "Residential Communities Initiative"; and

WHEREAS, the construction involves privatization using large mainland-based construction firms; and

WHEREAS, the total amount of the Residential Communities Initiative effort involves hundreds of millions of dollars in construction, design, and maintenance, making it the largest military expenditure ever in Hawaii for the hiring of civilian labor; and

WHEREAS, the Davis-Bacon Act requires that specifications for the construction contracts and subcontracts contain a provision that mechanics and laborers be paid the prevailing rate on similar projects in the locality; and

WHEREAS, a common practice for contractors and subcontractors to circumvent the requirements of the Davis-Bacon Act is to engage in the "piecework system" and rate fixing; and

WHEREAS, the method of the piecework system typically involves taking the labor hours for each item in the estimate and mathematically determining how much of that labor or labor burden a company can cover, and then simply counting or measuring what the laborers perform each day; and

WHEREAS, an accepted though arguable interpretation of the Davis-Bacon Act is that it can be circumvented by using the piecemeal system, which measures wages in terms of what is produced rather than an hourly wage; and

WHEREAS, the piecemeal system was previously utilized to take advantage of family owned lands located on Pali subdivisions, which was inherently and egregiously unfair to laborers, and is not condoned and not commonly used in Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, large mainland construction firms have an unfair advantage in size and economics in the bid process, resulting in lower bids to the detriment of bids submitted by local contractors; and

WHEREAS, the three major issues for the State as to the Residential Communities Initiative military contracts are hiring predominantly local companies and local labor so that eighty per cent of the contract moneys stay in Hawaii, avoiding piecemeal work, and underbidding local contractors; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, the House of Representatives concurring, that Hawaii's congressional delegation is requested to:

(1) Assist to ensure that at least eighty per cent of federal expenditures on the Residential Communities Initiative stays in Hawaii by the hiring or contracting of local construction firms and local laborers;

(2) Inquire into, and if necessary cause to be investigated, the piecework system and rate-fixing to circumvent Davis-Bacon; and

(3) Take steps to ensure that local contractors are not underbid by mainland firms for the contracts on the Residential Communities Initiative;

and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Honorable Senator Daniel K. Inouye, the Honorable Senator Daniel K. Akaka, the Honorable Congressman Neil Abercrombie, the Honorable Congressman Ed Case, Admiral Thomas B. Fargo (Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Command), Brigadier General John. R. Allen (U.S. Marines, Principal Director for Asia and Pacific Affairs), Lieutenant General Wallace C. Gregson (Commander, U.S. Marine Forces Pacific; Commanding General, Fleet Marine Force; Pacific Commander of the U.S. Marine Corp Bases, Pacific), Brigadier General Jerry C. MaAbee (Deputy Commanding General Marine Forces Pacific, Commanding General Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Deputy Commanding General III Marine Expeditionary Force Hawaii), General William J. Begert (Pacific Air Forces), Lieutenant General James L. Campbell (Commanding General, U.S. Army), and Rear Admiral Patrick W. Dunne (U.S. Pacific Command Representative).

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Military Construction Contracts