STAND. COM. REP. 3050

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 1778

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 1778, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WAGES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize an employer, upon receipt of written authorization by an employee, to provide the employee with an electronic record which contains the employee's total gross compensation, the amount and purpose of each deduction, the total net compensation, the date of payment, and the pay period covered, in lieu of a printed, typewritten, or handwritten record.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and Verizon Hawaii.

Subsequently, your Committee conducted a hearing on a proposed Senate draft version of this measure which incorporated provisions authorizing the use of electronic payment records as well as included provisions to clarify that the state law requiring the payment of prevailing wages applies to all laborers, mechanics, and their required assistants, helpers, tenders, and apprentices on a public works project.

Testimony in support of this proposed amended measure was submitted by the Hawaii Operating Engineers Industry Stabilization Fund and Verizon Hawaii.

Testimony in opposition to this proposed amended measure was submitted by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and the Hawaii Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc.

Your Committee finds that under the current law, an employer is only authorized to provide an employee with a printed, typewritten, or handwritten record of payment. Your Committee further finds that with the advancements of technology in the workplace, the law must also evolve to accommodate additional forms of transmitting and receiving information. Your Committee determines that the utilization of electronic payment stubs will provide employers with a cost-effective alternative for the transmission of wage information to their employees.

Your Committee also finds that the State must strive towards perpetuating a sense of equity in the governance of public works projects. Under prevailing standards, required assistants, helpers, tenders, and apprentices should be receiving the payment of prevailing wages to ensure uniformity in the execution of public works projects. Therefore, your Committee determines that the establishment of clear standards in the law will provide equally patent guidelines for the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to follow in its enforcement of prevailing standards.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by adding the following:

(1) An amendment to section 104-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, that requires all laborers and mechanics that are required to perform work on a public works project be paid prevailing wages; and

(2) An amendment to section 104-21, Hawaii Revised Statutes, that requires the employ and payment of the assistants, helpers, tenders, or apprentices of any laborer or mechanic at prevailing wages.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1778, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1778, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

BRIAN KANNO, Chair