STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2324

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2398

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Higher Education and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 2398 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COLLECTIVE BARGAINING,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish a collective bargaining unit for graduate student assistants employed by the University of Hawaii.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Government Employees Association, Hawaii State AFL-CIO, University of Hawaii at Mānoa Graduate Student Organization, University of Hawaii Professional Assembly, and thirteen individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance, Office of Collective Bargaining under the Office of the Governor, and University of Hawaii System.

 

     Your Committees find that graduate student assistants employed by the University of Hawaii encounter numerous work-related issues including but not limited to budget reductions and increases in class size and workload.  However, under existing law, graduate student assistants are not authorized to collectively bargain.

 

     Your Committees note that in the meantime, the University of Hawaii System and University of Hawaii at Mānoa Graduate Student Organization (GSO) have recently been in discussion regarding GSO's work-related concerns, and revised policies are currently under review.  Implementation of this measure will further higher education in the State and provide graduate student assistants employed at the University of Hawaii with a unified voice to discuss working conditions, wages, and benefits.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Higher Education and the Arts that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2398, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2398, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Higher Education and the Arts,

 

________________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair

 

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair