Senate Standing Committee on Labor and Technology

Okay. Good afternoon.

Committee on labor and Technology has a 3:00 agenda. It's Wednesday, January 29th. It's 3:00pm Conference Room 224 Hawaii State Capital okay, this meeting is being live, is streaming live on YouTube.

In the unlikely event that we have to abruptly end this hearing due to technical difficulties, the Committee will reconvene to discuss any outstanding business on Friday the 31st at 3:01pm and a public notice will be posted on the Legislature's website. And then we will have a two minute testifiers limit.

So once you hear a chimes or bells or what have you, please wrap it up. Okay. Okay. Up first we have Senate Bill 327 link to internships. Up first we have Department of Education Superintendent.

Good afternoon Chair. Vice Chair, thank you for for the opportunity to testify. Tammy Chen Deputy Superintendent for Keith Hayashi Superintendent, we support this bill and just wanted to note that in our testimony we identified. I'm not sure it's considered a technical.

Change, but suggested change in the wording about the purpose of the internship is to develop the experiences to be able to do the occupation as opposed to the internship experience making someone proficient.

Okay, I believe that's on page three. Correct. Okay, thank you very much. Okay. Up next we have Department of Labor Industrial Relations Director.

Good afternoon Chair Aquino. Vice Chair Lee. My name is Jade Butai, Director of the Department of Labor Industrial Relations. We stand on our testimony in support. When the internship program was started, our Workforce Development division knew it would transform lives and it has brought stability and possibility to hundreds of young students.

Expanding the program to the private sector will give more students the opportunities and support they deserve to remain in Hawaii. So we thank you.

We want to thank the Committee for your support of this program to provide state funding for work based training via on the job training contracts between the Department and employers or registered apprenticeship program sponsors in the private sector. For you. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Director. Up next we have University of Hawaii.

Good afternoon Chair, Vice Chair. Deborah Halbert, Vice President for Academic Strategy University Hawaii System. We support the measure. We had two specific modifications we would have recommend.

We would recommend one would not limit the internship opportunities to those in their final year and the other was a small modification to recognize that some students may not be able to work full time and an internship. And so it's a potential potentially allow for part time but otherwise we stand on our written testimony. Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Up next we have DB Director. Director Tokioka. Aloha Chair, Vice Chair. My name is Thomas Chalk from the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism on behalf of Director James Tokioka. We stand on our testimony as submitted with comments. Be available for questions later.

Thank you very much. Okay, up next we have Stephen Schatz, P20.

Good afternoon, Chair, Vice Chair. Steven Schatz, Executive Director of Hawaii P20 Partnerships for Education. We stand on our written testimony in support of this measure.

Okay, thank you very much. Okay, up next we have Hawaii Food Industry Association.

Good afternoon, chair. Vice Chair. I'm Alexis Chapman for HFIA. We stand on our testimony and support and I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

Okay, thank you very much. Okay, up next we have Hawaiian Electric.

Kazunori Hayashida, Vice Chair, Kazuha Yoshida with Hawaiian Electric. We stand on our testimony in support of this bill. Thank you.

Thank you very much. We have Hawaii Primary Care Association, Arakabe. Okay. Support. Healthcare Association of Hawaii. Okay. And support. We have a Jacob Weintcheck. And support. We do have late testimony from DIHR Director Hashimoto.

Good afternoon, chair. Vice Chair. I'm going to send to my written testimony and support, but we are also offering some comments and suggested amendments, primarily due to the stated scope and responsibilities attributed to De Herd. We are excited and happy to continue partnering with the Department of Labor on the this on internships.

But in terms of D Herd's scope of responsibility, we don't feel like it's in line with our mission to support state agencies to assign deher to involve itself in placements within the private sector. So we would ask that the Committee consider amendments as suggested in our comments.

Okay, thank you very much. Okay, up next we have the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii testimony and support. Okay, we have Kapolei Chamber of Commerce, Kieran Polk.

Good afternoon, chair. Vice Chair, Kieran Polk, Executive Director and CEO of the Coppola Chamber of Commerce. We stand in our testimony and support.

I also just want to point out that this measure specifically supports the fact that it'll enable our small businesses to offer internships, something that will really strengthen the K through 12 and post into post secondary and into the workforce pipeline. And allow that sector. And so we appreciate this measure coming forward. Mahalo.

Thank you very much. Maui Chamber of Commerce and support. Any others wish you to testify. Senate Bill 327. I see none. Members, any questions? Okay, I have a quick question for Diher. Thank you, Director for being here.

Because this was late testimony, we didn't get a chance to take a look at your some of your amendments and I know you touched on them a little bit. But can you further clarify your recommendations?

Certainly. So the amendments start on page eight. Specifically in section subsection H, it reads, the Department of Labor Industrial Relations shall collaborate with the Department of Human Resources Development to process program applications and place interns and temporary or permanent positions at departments, business or organizations within the state.

And so because we don't, we don't deal with businesses or organizations outside of the state Executive branch, we would ask that the Committee consider amending that provision to read. I'll skip ahead to basically line 14 where it says or permanent positions at state Executive branch agent departments, agencies or programs.

So it would make clear that our responsibility is to service our internal Executive branch departments. And similar amendments are recommended in the following top of the following page in balance, where it also talks about business and organization, we would ask that that be clarified to limit it to state Executive branch departments.

And that's only for our, in terms of our roles and responsibilities with regard to Department of Labor. You know, they, they're free to, to do whatever they need to do to support external entities. But we would ask that our responsibility be limited just to state Executive branch.

And then there's one additional couple of additional minutes right below that. In C, I don't think we need the assigned employee number, so that could be stricken.

And then in E, we are asking that the amendment read any other relevant information that the Department of Human Resources Development may require to assist the intern in pursuing future employment with the state Executive branch. Just to tighten up the language.

Okay, thank you very much. Can I get deeped, Director, if you can please stay.

Sure.

So highlighted in your testimony, you mentioned specifically administrative capacity, specifically D. Herd was named in your testimony. You know, you guys have some concerns that they may not be able to address. Some of these things are in the Bill. So with these changes that Director specifically highlighted, would this address some of your concerns?

I think generally I would say that the concern for administrative capacity comes from the perspective that workforce development efforts, again, General practice best practices require like a, almost like a whole Department just separate like a team to dedicated to manage and administer a program like this because of, not just to set up the internships and to create the relationships between the employers, but then to follow through on the program, internship program, follow up beyond the internship.

If there's some kind of a, you know, tracking the participants, making sure that employers are, are set up properly to deal with interns. All those kinds of things require kind of a lot of work and a lot of teamwork, a lot of resources.

So that was the General idea around our concern about D Herd, basically, in the Bill, it doesn't seem like there's. It's asking for budget to help with that, whether it's more staff to.

To run it, just the infrastructure to like a tracking system or something like that to help track these participants and the employers through the internship process.

All right, thank you very much. Okay, Members, any other questions? Let's move on to Senate Bill 716 relating to Hawaii Employment Security Law. Okay, up first, we have Department of Labor Industrial Relations Director.

Aloha. Chair. Vice Chair. We stand on our submitted written testimony and strong support. Our Unemployment Insurance Division has looked at the process step by step to untie the knots when filing a UI claim as what they have done with the launching of the call center and streamlined web inquiry form.

While working on the modernization, they have been focusing on not only what they can do better, but also on how to make the system better. So we strongly support this measure as it lays the foundation for transitioning to a modernized Unemployment Insurance system.

Thank you. Thank you, Director. And that's all the written testimony we received. Any others wishing to testify? Senate Bill 716. None. Members, questions? Yes. Seeing none. Let's move on to the next measure. Senate Bill 717, relating to collective bargaining. Okay. Repeals the prohibition placed on certain employees exempt from civil service law from grieving.

A suspension or discharge allows any employee who is a Member of an appropriate bargaining unit to grieve a suspension or discharge. First, we have Sancone of Honolulu Human Resources Department. Director.

Thank you, Chair. Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, my name is Midori Hirai. I'm here on behalf of Nola Miyazaki, the Director of Human Resources Development at the City and County. We stand on our written testimony providing comments on this measure.

And note that this is an issue that has been specifically delegated to collective bargaining and that generally issues subject to collective bargaining are preferred to remain subject to collective bargaining. And we are available for any questions. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Okay, up next we have HGA Director Randy Pereira.

Hello, Chair. Vice Chair. Members of the Committee, Nui Sebast here with HGA, will stand on a written testimony in strong support of this measure. Thank you. Okay, thank you very much.

Okay, up next, we have United Public Workers.

Hello, Chair. Vice Chair. Kamakana Kaimala, Government Affairs Manager for United Public Workers. We'll just stand on our written testimony and support.

Thank you very much. Okay, up next, we have Hawaii State AFL Cio. Okay. Randy Pereira can support. We do have late testimony from deheard, Director.

Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, Brenna Hashimoto from D. Herd. We have, we respectfully oppose this measure. Essentially, exempt employees are considered at will and they do not have the same rights, collective bargaining rights, as civil service employees when it comes to discipline. And we believe that the statute should remain in place.

And right now the appeal process for at will or actually any Member of the public who wants to file a complaint is through the state's internal complaint procedure. So it's not as if they don't have an opportunity to complain.

It's just we believe, like the city and county, that this is negotiable matter and that it should be maintained as a collective bargaining matter and should not be amended by statute. And employees who want to grieve, suspension or discharge if they are exempt should exercise their right under the internal complaint procedure that's available to them currently.

Okay, thank you very much. Any other seven seeing non Members? Questions? Okay, no questions. Let's move on to Senate Bill 742 related to data sharing. Establishes a data sharing and governance working group within the Office of Enterprise Technology Services. Also has some appropriation language as well. So first we have Executive Office on Early Learning.

Hi, Chair Aquino, Vice Chair Lee. I'm Yuuko Arikawa-Cross, Director of the Executive Office on Early Learning. We stand on our written testimony and support. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next we have the University of Hawaii.

Good afternoon. Chair, Vice Chair, Debbie Halbert, Vice President Academic Strategy. We stand on our written testimony. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Office of Enterprise Technology Services CIO Christine Sakuda.

Aloha, Vice Chair, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, Christine Sukuda, the Chief Information Officer with the Enterprise Technology Services under the Department of Accounting and General Services. And we are in support of this Bill. Data sharing and data governance is very important to us.

We have started working through our Chief Data Officer and Data Task Force to really develop data sharing agreements and also data data sharing guidance and AI guidance. We feel that this working group would help to advance this effort. Sharing tools and staffing resources are going to be needed to do that. And we have an estimate of a budget that as a starting point to talk about and we'd be happy to answer any questions that you have. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Up next, we have DLIR Director Aloha, Chair, Vice Chair.

We stand on our testimony offering comments and thank you for giving attention to data sharing and we're willing to participate in the working group.

Okay, thank you, Director. Okay. Up next we have Keith DeMelo, State of Hawaii WDC and support AHS Director Ryan Yamani. He's not here. Oh, that's too bad. But submitting testimony with some comments.

Okay, we have P20 Steven Schatz, aloha Chair and Vice Chair Steven Schatz, Executive Director, Hawaii P20 Partnership for Education. We stand on our written testimony offering some comments.

Thank you very much. Okay, up next we have Hawaii Kids.

Aloha Chair Aquino Aloha Vice Chair Lee. My name is Erica Nakanishi-Stanis. I'm here as the Advocacy Director of Hawaii Kids.

Can we stand on our written comments in support, in strong support of this Bill drawing attention with special emphasis to the idea that the value Proposition of this Bill lies in convening a permanent structure around data sharing with a broader set of stakeholders.

Not only so we can value, we can do the ROI on our investments in workforce educate and workforce development, but also that we can answer questions that we don't know to ask yet. So we thank you for your consideration of this measure.

Okay, thank you very much. Okay, up next, Eric Abe, Hawaii Primary Care Association and support we have Transform Hawaii Government Il Kumagai in support Hawaii Workforce Funders Collaborative Matt Stevens, written testimony and support Hawaii Data Collaborative Nick Redding and Jacob Weinscheck, Oath and support any others wishing to testify.

Okay, seeing non Members questions, you have a quick question for the cio. Thank you for being here. Specifically in your testimony, you share second to the last paragraph, there's an estimate, a cost estimate to this Bill. You know, you share quite a bit here as well as some staff.

You care to kind of elaborate a little bit on this? Sure. I think it's a total of 2.64 million. Yes.

Thank you. So the estimate is divided into a couple of components. The first component is the cost for data governance and data sharing and data management platform. So that's the software, the enterprise software and that's the total cost the system. It varies depending on the departments that sign up to use it initially the number of users.

And so it's important for us to reflect in enterprise costs and that part will vary. And then we're requesting support for 6fte for a total of 590,000. And that's each of the software requires specialized support and we ideally we don't just have one person just for continuity, especially in the enterprise work that is being required. And also.

Sorry, just sorry, didn't mean to interject. But the 6fte, what kind of positions are there? What type of positions?

Okay, thank you for that question. I'd like to call up my chief Data officer Rebecca Kai who can provide a little bit more detail. Thank you.

Aloha Chair and Vice Chair Committee. We would include. We have to protect the data. So that's the data privacy analyst. We want to improve the quality of the data because the quality is normally not ideal. When you share the data, someone have to clean it. So that's the data quality person.

Then we need a data scientist because this Bill specifically mentioned that how can we increase the usability of the data. So that's the data scientist. We need a data architect who can design because this is a included data governance platform, master data management platform and also the data shared data platform where you can do analytics.

And we need a master data person. For example, region from one department is defined differently than the other department. Currently when they share the data they have to aggregate the data out up to the region level. The receiving department have to manually try to clean the data. So that's the master data management. How many do I have?

And then open data, open data analyst. Because we have a great open data platform but people are not using it as, as it's intended to. Yeah, thank you.

Thank you very much. Please proceed. I think you left off of staffing and then now we're in consulting. Consulting. Yeah.

Yeah. So please do so that's, that's for 850,000 and that's to supplement the, the staffing expert expertise as we build up the staffing to make sure that we are building out the software, the systems, you know, correctly and according to best practice.

Okay. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thank you.

Okay, any other questions? Okay, let's move on to the last measure. Centerville 855 relating to the Hawaii Retirement Savings Act. This clarifies the definition of covered employer under the act. Also requires covered employers to automatically enroll covered employees into the program unless the employee chooses to opt out.

It repeals the limit on the total fees and expenses that can be spent for the program. Each year appropriates funds to the Department of Labor Industrial Relations for the Development and Operations of the program. First we have former Senator Brian Taniguchi for the Hawaii Retirement Savings Board. Welcome. Welcome back.

Aloha. Mr. Chair and Vice Chair, Brian Taniguchi, Member of the Hawaii Retirement Savings Board. I'm here to testify in strong support of Senate Bill 855. The thrust of the bill, as you probably know, is to change the current law for the retirement savings program from a opt in to an opt out.

So the Bill also provides monies primarily startup costs and would also additionally like to request two relatively minor amendments. Well, actually not. One is to I guess take repeal the limit, the cap on fees and the other would be a kind of more technical amendment about on I believe page eight, line 16.

Just it's more clarifying the language. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Okay, up next, we have the Executive Office on Aging, Arthur Cardo and support Arp Hawaii, Kelly E. Lopez.

Aloha Chair, Aquino, Vice Chair Lee. I'm Kaylee Lopez, State Director of AARP Hawaii. And I want to thank you on behalf of our nearly 140,000 Members statewide for the opportunity to testify on this particular legislation. You have my testimony. So in General, Arp is in strong. Support of this legislation.

The Senate was a great leader in having Act 2296 passed in 2022. And really what we're doing is coming forward to say you've got a wonderful. Program that's ready to launch.

The proposed amendments are really designed to help the program be very successful, give the Department the tools it needs to create the program and get it up and going. I did notice that there was some testimony concerns. I just want to address that about the impact to employers.

The concern, I think in one of the testimonies was really around the impact to small businesses and for all. For many of the programs that have been stood up across the country, very few employers see an added cost for the program. The program was designed to make this very easy for businesses.

So there's no cost to the employer. It's really an administrative activity. So just as an employer will have their employee complete the tax payroll deductions for their taxes, similarly, they would be asking the employee whether they want to opt out of the program or not.

For any of the businesses that have incurred some cost related to that, it's been on average about $50 a month. So we don't think that should be a hindrance. But we'll leave that to you folks.

Okay, thank you so much. Yes, thank you. Okay, up next we have Tina Yamaki, Retail Merchants of Hawaii on Zoom Aloha.

And Kunki, FA Choy. We are opposed to this Bill right now. While the retirement savings program already exists, our concerns lie with the potential burden placed on small locally owned businesses if mandatory automatic enrollment is enforced. Implementing and managing such programs incurs ongoing costs for businesses. It is going to be expensive.

You can't just go by what one HR company that's large says in Hawaii, CPA firms and other employees, once you give them a little bit more to do. They expect compensation for that as well.

And having everybody opt in at 1.0 is a lot more work for somebody because if they start to opt out or they change jobs, you still got to do the changes on that. And in service oriented businesses, a lot of changes or people, you know, leaving the business is really prevalent.

Our concern is with the smaller locally owned businesses. They're grappling with how can we afford another mandate. They still carry debt from the shutdown during pandemic time. The visitors from Asia who spend a lot of money have not come back.

And that not only affects our businesses who depend on the visitors, but also those in the visitor industry who's not getting their hours. The rising costs of employee benefits like insurance and everything else and also to the smaller businesses are not sure how they're going to pay for that $2 increase in minimum wage next year.

So our concern is to keep the doors open and people employed right now. If you have any questions, I'm available. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Up next we have Tax foundation of Hawaii, Tom Yamachika on zoom.

Thank you, Chair, Vice Chair, Members of the Committee, Tom Yamachika from Tax foundation of Hawaii. We're also concerned about this legislation. The retirement savings program was enacted 2022 but still hasn't been implemented. And we're kind of wondering what the hang up is.

And we're wondering if now is the correct time to add additional mandates to this program that hasn't even been implemented yet. We're also concerned about removing the cap on fees and costs because what this tells us is that it's going to be a lot more expensive than originally planned. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much for the opportunity.

Okay, thank you very much. Okay. Up next we have the Hawaii Family Caregiver Coalition, Gary Simon and support Hawaii Primary Care Association Arigabe. Okay. Also in support. Okay. The following have sent the written testimony. All in support. Okay. Maromi Nami Shima, Annette Kim, Esther Ueda, Missy Saiki, Beverly Gotelli Kobichak, Carol Bakayama, Carl Takamura, Lloyd Kozuki. Okay.

Michael Hahn and Dan Gardner, all in support. Anyone here of the names that I mentioned? Okay, thank you very much. Up next we have Department of Labor Industrial Relations with late testimony. Director. Okay, thank you Director. Okay. And then we have one late individual testimony from Catherine Bukovich and support any other special to testify.

Okay, seeing non Members questions. Yeah, I have a quick question for the Retirement Savings board. Yes, Senator, I'm not sure if you were Able to see the AARP testimony.

I believe they have one amendment requested which would mention the board may add an option for all participants and there's a strike there to affirm the elect to contribute to a traditional Ira in addition to.

Okay, can I take a look at that? Sure. Yeah. Sorry. I think it's okay, but. Yeah.

Okay. We're going to take a recess. Recess it. Okay.

Reconvening our 3:00pm agenda. Okay.

And thank you, Mr. Chair. I think we're okay with that. It's part of the opt out language that would be in support of.

Okay, thank you very much, Members. Any other questions? Seeing none. We're going to briefly recess for decision making.

Recess. Okay.

Reconvening our 3:00pm agenda. We're still in Conference Room 2 to 4. Get up. First we have Senate Bill 327, Senate Draft 1. Chair's recommendation is to move this as a Senate draft one. Okay. We'll be taking doe's suggested amendments that would amend page three, line six through eight.

It will be amended to read, provided that the term of the internship shall be sufficient to allow the participant to gain relevant skills and experience in the occupation for which the internship is provided. Okay. So we'll be taking doe's clarification amendment as well as Department of Labor Industrial Relations. I believe they have three different amendments in there.

And it touches on new subsections, H and I on page 8, line 11 to page 9, line 11. So we'll be taking Department of Labor's amendment there as well as inserting private sector in the section heading of page two, line 10. So it should read on the job Training Work experience program, Private sector.

Also on page nine, the third and final amendment that the Director asked for, page nine, line 19, to add line item, the names of the private or public sector organizations that the interns were placed at that would be part of the legislative report that will be due.

In addition to that, we'll be adding UHS amendment specifically on page six, lines 11 through 12. Okay. We're gonna amend it to address the work periods for up to 20 hours per week. Okay. While the intern is enrolled to two more courses or 40 hours per week, otherwise.

In addition to that, we'll be taking D Herd's amendments as well as DBED's concerns. We'll be putting it in the Committee report only. In addition to that, we'll be adding a defective date of July 12050 to foster further discussion as well as some technical amendments. Okay. Any questions?

Any discussion? See? None. Vice Chair, thank you. Voting on SB 327, recommendations to pass with amendments. Chair Aquino. Aye. I'll vote aye. Senator Favela.

Aye.

Noting Senators Ihara and Moriwaki. Excused. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Okay, thank you very much. Moving on to Senate Bill 716 relating to Hawaii Employment Security Law. Members, the recommendation is to move this as a Senate draft One, we're going to be taking Department of Labor Industrial Relations Amendment revision for housekeeping on page 13, line 2, which would read pursuant to this subsection.

And we'll also put some tech amendments in there, but keep the effective date clean. Okay, Any questions, any discussion?

Senon Vice Chair for the vote voting On Senate Bill 716, recommendations to pass with amendments noting excused absence of Senate Senators Ihara and Moriwaki. Are there any reservations or nos? If not, chair your recommendations.

Okay, thank you very much. Members. Moving on to Senate Bill 717 relating to collective bargaining. This would repeal the prohibition placed on certain employees exempt from civil service law from grieving. A suspension or discharge allows any employee who is a Member inappropriate bargaining unit to grieve a suspension or discharge.

So, Members, I know that there's some concerns here, but I'd like to keep this moving for further discussion. So having said that, the recommendation is to move it as a Senate draft one and a defect the date.

To foster further discussion. Okay. Questions or concerns, Members?

Okay.

Okay. Seeing none. Vice Chair, voting On Senate Bill 717, recommendations to pass with amendments during excused. Absences of Senators Ihara and Moriwaki. Are there any reservations or nos? Seeing none, the recommendations adopted.

Okay, thank you very much. Moving on to Senate Bill 742 relating to data sharing. This would establish a data sharing and Governance working group within OETs and appropriate some funds. Members, the recommendation is to move this as a Senate draft Fund. We're going to defect the date to July 12050.

There is some technical amendments and also we're just going to put in the Committee report the certain budgetary requests that were made by the CIO and her staff, which would amount to $2.6 million. And we'll discuss that further in the next Committee. Committee. Okay.

Any questions or concerns, Colleagues? Seeing none. Vice Chair, voting On Senate Bill 742, the recommendations to pass with amendments during excused absences of Senators Mori, Walki and Dehara. Are there any reservations or nos? Seeing none, the recommendations adopted.

Okay, thank you very much. Moving on to the Last Senate Bill 855 relating to the Hawaii Retirement Savings act is to clarify the definition of covered employer under the act requires covered employers to automatically enroll covered employees under this program unless the employee chooses to opt out.

And this repeals the limit on the total fees to be spent by the program and appropriates funds to the Department of Labor Industrial Relations for operations and Development. So colleagues, the recommendation is to move this as a Senate draft.

One, we'll be taking the Hawaii Retirement Savings Board amendments in Section 4, page 8, line 16 to remove program administrator provides and amend that to covered employer provides.

In addition to that, we'll be taking the friendly amendment from aarp and then we're going to blank the Bill of the appropriation amounts and add them to the Community Report Court for further consideration in the next Committee. And we're also going to add a defective date of July 12050. Colleagues, any questions or concerns?

Kissing on Vice Chair for the vote.

Voting on Senate Bill 855. The recommendation is to pass with amendments noting excused absences of Senators Ihara and Moriwaki. Are there any reservations or nos Seeing none. The recommendations adopted.

Okay, thank you very much.

Kung Hipa Choy. Have a great day.