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Minimum Wage
Session Ends; HEC Legislative Digest Updated After Adjournment Sine Die
Written by admin
Tuesday, 07 May 2013 11:17

The long days and late nights at the Capitol are over, and the 2013 Legislative Session has come to an end.

The Hawaii Employers Council (“HEC”) has an updated Legislative Digest for bills that were passed by the Legislature during the 2013 legislative session.  Fortunately for employers, only a few employment-related bills survived this legislative session.  A quick summary of the fate of employment bills from this year is as follows…

Bills that have already been signed into law by the Governor include:

  • Notice Period for UI Appeals Hearings
  • Pay Records and Pay Stubs

Bills that have been sent to the Governor for his approval (or veto) include:

  • Breastfeeding Break Time
  • Workers’ Compensation (“WC”) Medical Fee Schedule Study
  • Definition of “Small Employer” for Health Insurance

Bills that did not pass this year include:

  • Minimum Wage
  • Successor Employers and Employee Retention
  • Paycheck Withholdings for Restitution Cases
  • Organ Donor Leave
  • Social Media Password Privacy
  • Unemployment Insurance Contribution Rates Changes
  • Paid Sick and Safe Leave
  • Elimination of IMEs for WC Cases
  • Meal Breaks
  • Discrimination against Unemployed Individuals
  • Abusive Workplaces
  • GET Increase

In the next couple months, I will be giving several presentations on the 2013 legislative session, including HEC’s 2013 Legislative Update on June 21, 2013.  I will also be doing in-house presentations for several of HEC’s members and industry roundtable groups.  If you are able to join us at any of those presentations (and would like to find out what “OTBD” means), I hope to see you there.

To view the updated Legislative Digest, as well as an article highlighting several of the bills mentioned above, you can visit HEC’s website here:  HEC Offers Final Bill Summary for 2013 Session.

 
Minimum Wage Bill Dies At 11th Hour and 45th Minute
Written by admin
Saturday, 27 April 2013 07:27

Wow.  In a surprising turn of events last night, the legislature shelved a bill that would have resulted in several increases to the state’s minimum wage over the next several years.  Thus, the state’s minimum wage will remain at $7.25, at least for another year.

Throughout the entire 2013 legislative session, it was almost a certainty that the legislature was going to pass a bill raising the state’s minimum wage.  At the beginning of session, both the House and Senate introduced several bills that proposed an increase to the state’s minimum wage.  In addition, Governor Abercrombie proposed a minimum wage increase in his State of the State address.  Finally, even President Obama has proposed an increase to the minimum wage (at the federal level.)  Therefore, on the issue of an increase to the minimum wage, it appeared the question was not “if” but rather “when, and by how much?”

Towards the end of the 2013 legislative session, one bill relating to the minimum wage – SB 331 SD2 HD1 – remained.  This bill was introduced by the Senate, amended twice by the Senate, and then amended once by the House.  The latest version of the bill proposed an increase of $0.50 for the next three years (effective January 1, 2014, 2015 and 2016), and then a $0.25 increase on January 2017.  Thus, the proposed minimum wage scale was as follows:

  • January 1, 2014 – $7.75
  • January 1, 2015 – $8.25
  • January 1, 2016 – $8.75
  • January 1, 2017 – $9.00

Unlike former versions of this bill (and some other bills), the latest version of this bill did not tie future increases to the minimum wage with inflation.  The bill also had a blank ($___) amount for the state’s tip credit, which is currently just $0.25.

During conference, the Senate and House Conference Committee members met on SB 331 HD1 five times.  The last meeting occurred last night, Friday, April 26, 2013 at 5:45 pm, just 15 minutes before the legislature’s self-imposed deadline for passing all bills out of conference.  At that final meeting, House Conference Chair Mark Nakashima noted that (a) the proposed minimum wage increase signified a 24% increase from the current minimum wage and (b) the parties had spent 90-95% of their time on discussions over the proper amount of the tip credit, and as a result, were unable to reach a resolution on the amount and timing of the minimum wage increases.

In response, Senate Conference Chair Clayton Hee said it was a “damn shame” that they could not reach agreement on the minimum wage bill.

 
Hawaii One Of The Worst States For Businesses, Again
Written by admin
Tuesday, 23 April 2013 13:33

This morning, the Star-Advertiser reported that Hawaii has made yet another list of worst states for businesses.  This time, the list was compiled by the American Economic Development Institute (AEDI) and Pollina Corporate Real Estate, Inc.  In this list, Hawaii was ranked as the 10th worst state (41 out of 50) for doing business.  The Advertiser also noted that the AEDI study examined 32 factors over which “states have control, relative to becoming pro-business.”  (The AEDI website did not expound on what 32 factors were examined for this study.)

This unfavorable ranking for Hawaii is probably not a surprise for a lot of people.  After all, Hawaii has consistently ranked poorly on similar studies and lists.  For example, last year, ChiefExecutive.Net (and Chief Executive magazine) ranked Hawaii as the 10th worst state for doing business.  Similarly, Entrepreneur.com also noted that Hawaii ranked at the bottom of the list in a study conducted by Thumbtack.com’s Small Business Survey.  Thumbtack.com gave Hawaii a failing grade of “F” for doing business.

I realize this blog entry is different from the types of entries I usually write, but I wanted to highlight Hawaii’s poor rankings in “worst states for business” type studies in light of the fact that we are currently at the end of another legislative session.  This year, many of the anti-employer bills already died, but there is still some pending legislation that would have an adverse impact on businesses, such as bills dealing with (1) successor employers and (2) the minimum wage.  (For further discussion on pending legislation, please see this blog post here:  HEC Legislative Digest Updated.)

Therefore, this blog post is a call-to-action for businesses to remind their legislators that Hawaii has consistently ranked among the worst states for businesses, and that we cannot afford further legislation that would hamper the ability of businesses to operate in Hawaii.  When businesses cannot prosper, the economy is adversely affected.  Interestingly, an announcement by AEDI on their website noted that nine of the worst states all have high budget deficits for fiscal year 2013, and that Hawaii had a budget deficit of $500 million.

If you want to get in touch with your legislature about any issues pertaining to the 2013 legislative session, you can find their phone numbers and email addresses here:  Legislative Directory.

You can view the original article on the AEDI website here:  AEDI Ranks Hawaii 41 out of 50 For Doing Business.

 
HEC Legislative Digest Updated After First Crossover
Written by admin
Thursday, 14 March 2013 10:01

The Hawaii Employers Council has an updated Legislative Digest, following First Crossover.  Some of the bills that are still alive address the following areas of law:

  • Successor Employers and Employee Retention
  • Social Media Privacy for Employees and Job Applicants
  • Breastfeeding for Employees
  • Paid Leave for Organ, Bone Marrow, or Stem Cell Donation
  • Minimum Wage Increases
  • Workers’ Compensation Medical Fee Schedule Increases

If you would like to view the Legislative Digest, you can view a copy here:  HEC Legislative Digest.

 
HEC Legislative Digest Now Available
Written by admin
Thursday, 31 January 2013 09:54

Each state Legislative session, the Hawaii Employers Council prepares a Legislative Digest summarizing bills that may be of interest to Hawaii employers.  This year, the bills covered include those in the following categories:

  • Employment Practices and Employment Rights
  • Hawaii Family Leave Law
  • Wage and Hour – Minimum Wage
  • Wage and Hour – Miscellaneous
  • Unemployment Insurance
  • Workers’ Compensation
  • Health and Insurance
  • Public Employees
  • Public Contracts
  • Government Agencies
  • General Excise Tax; Tax Credits
  • Miscellaneous

If you would like to view the Legislative Digest, you can view a copy here:  HEC Legislative Digest.