Senate Standing Committee on Labor and Technology

Great afternoon, everyone. Welcome to our Joint Committees on Labor and Technology and Public Safety and Military Affairs. It's our 3pm agenda. Today is Wednesday, February 18, 2026, and we're in Conference Room 225. This hearing is also being streamed on the Hawaii State Senate's YouTube channel. Just a few housekeeping announcements.

In the unlikely case of technical failures, this meeting will reconvene here in Conference Room 225 later today. For all testifiers, including those on Zoom, we ask that you stand on your written testimony. If your oral testimony is different from your written testimony, the time limit for each testifier will be one minute.

The content, including the hearing notice, copies of the measures, and testimony, can be found on the legislature's website. If time permits, decision making will occur after we hear from those offering testimonies. And I'd like to welcome our Committee on Public Safety and Military Affairs. Thank you, Chair Fukunaga, to you and your Members.

We'll begin first off with Senate Bill 3082. This is relating to military families. First up on our list is Kelli May Douglas for the US Defense-State Liaison Office on Zoom, Ricky.

Not present, Chair.

Not present on Zoom. In support, Director Butay, DLIR. Happy Lunar New Year.

Yep. Aloha and blessed Ash Wednesday, Chair Elefante, Chair Fukunaga, and Senator Moriwaki. I'm Jade Butay, Director of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. We stand on our testimony in support. This measure aligns with the state law with the federal standards, and provide consistency and clarity to both employers and employees. Thank you for the opportunity to testify.

Okay. Thank you so much. Laurie Moore, Executive Director, or John from MACRO. Nice to see you. Hello.

Nice to see you, Senator. Good afternoon, Chair, Chairs, and Senator Moriwaki. John Greene, Deputy Director for Military Community Relations Office. We stand on our written testimony in support. Our office is seeing a need for an update in language to Hawaii's family leave law.

This measure ensures that unique circumstances surrounding military life are considered when an employee needs time off to handle deployments, relocation orders, mandatory briefings, childcare arrangements, and much more.

Military families often face these short notice situations, which are not optional, but rather simply part of supporting a loved one's service to our nation. This measure will align Hawaii's leave law with federal leave law and create clear policy where employees will be better protected in the workplace. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Greene. Brigadier General Walter Ross for DOD.

Aloha, Chair. Cheers. And I'm Brigadier General Ross, Director of Joint Staff of the Hawaii National Guard. We stand in support of this measure. And I'm here for any questions that you may have.

Okay, thank you so much. We also have Johnnie-Mae L. Perry. Excuse me. In support. That completes our list of registered testifiers for SB 3082. Anyone else on this measure? Oh, yes, Ricky.

Sorry. We have Kelli May Douglas now on Zoom.

Oh, okay. Yes. Please proceed. Aloha. Welcome.

Aloha. Sorry for the delay. I was on another hearing. Kelli May Douglas with U.S. Department of Defense in support of this measure, and I stand on our written testimony. And thank you for your consideration.

Thank you so much, Kelli May. Anyone else on Zoom or in person that wishes to testify in SB 3082? If not, Members, questions? If not, I'll turn it over to Chair Fukunaga for the rest of the measures.

Okay, thank you very much. Moving to Senate Bill 3110, relating to the Hawaii National Guard. This measure clarifies that employees of the Hawaii National Guard youth and adult educational programs are excluded from collective bargaining. And with us for testimony this afternoon, we have Brigadier General Bruce Oliveira testifying for State Department of Defense in person.

Good afternoon, Chairs, Committee Members. I'm Bruce Oliveira. I am the Director for Civil Military Affairs, and I stand on my written testimony and will be available for questions.

Okay, thank you very much. Next we have Major General Stephen Wright.

Good morning, Chairs and Members of the Committee. Brigadier General Retired Neal Mitsuyoshi. The department stands on its written testimony in support and prepared to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you. That's all the testimony that we have received so far. Is there anyone else who would like to comment on this measure. If not, Members, any questions? Okay, let's turn to Senate Bill 3251, relating to public safety.

This measure prohibits Department of Law Enforcement, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Taxation, and Attorney General from appointing or employing former United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement or Border Patrol agents and employees as law enforcement officers. And with us for testimony on this measure is, believe, Liza Ryan Gill in person. Good afternoon.

Good afternoon. Thanks for having me, Chairs. I want to recognize that this is, you know, a very strange time and may be perceived as, you know, a strange bill in some ways. Talking about, and I am having grown up on the Canadian US border with many Customs and Border Patrol as the dads of my classmates.

I'm sensitive to their need for employment. What I want to raise is a concern that has been happening across the country. One, which is we have now funded, HR 1 has funded Department of Homeland Security to be the largest law enforcement agency that this country has ever experienced. $75 billion will go into ICE.

A problem that is happening in red states and blue states across the country is that ICE is actually recruiting from local law enforcement agencies, sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, and all kinds of other local law enforcement agencies. We do not have enough police officers here.

I think one of the main concerns would be with all the money that is coming through Department of Homeland Security and the bonuses that are going to be that are being offered for employment, that agents would be hired as our police officers would go over to Department of Homeland Security. They would maybe spend two years there or something as that money will likely not stay funded at that level. And then they would come back.

Ask you to conclude your testimony, and then we'll ask you back for questions.

Sure. So that is part, that's part of the concern that we have was that we would lose our local law, that we would... It would further aggravate our staffing for our police departments here.

Thank you. Next we have, on behalf of CARES, Angela Young on Zoom.

Not present, Chair.

Okay, Next we have James Raymond in person. Okay. Not present. We do have... Let's see. Calvin Black on Zoom.

Not present, Chair.

Okay, let's see. We did receive 62 testimonies on this measure in support, five in opposition, and three comments. Is there anyone else in the audience or on Zoom who would like to comment on this measure? Okay. If not, Members, questions? Or if I could ask Ms. Gill to sort of return.

And I do have questions regarding any statistics that your organization may have collected in the most recent weeks and months. Because we also have legislation pending where the state is actively trying to increase, you know, the opportunities for Department of Law Enforcement and county law enforcement agencies to retain and recruit members as well.

Sure. So at the end of the last federal administration, there were 7,000 ICE and CBP agents. They have now hired 12,000 additional agents. That is without the double amount of funding that has now been allocated to Department of Homeland Security and the major plus up in billions of dollars that will go to ERO.

So our like internal removal operations, Customs and Border Patrol, and Homeland Security investigations. I think we just have to think about like the... We don't understand the gravity that that kind of funding will create within our workforce kind of landscape here. We have previously only had about 7 to 10 Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents here on island.

Now if they were to be recruiting here in Hawaii, it is likely that they will recruit out of our local law enforcement agencies, which would make it more difficult because there's no way that our local law enforcement agencies can compete with the money that they are bringing to the table, including lots of pay, 25% pay for overtime, and $50,000 bonuses for signing.

And so I think that the concern that we are thinking about right now is that this could potentially devastate our police departments when that money comes through. And so if you... But we know that it's unlikely if we have a new federal administration coming in in 2028, that that money will stay within the Department of Homeland Security, so they will cull lots of members.

Now, this could create a very weird situation where we lose lots of police officers because they go to work for DHS and then all of a sudden they find themselves without a job again in two years later. And then do we bring them back in our police force after they have...

After we've already had to deal with that deficit as well as they are now potentially have been liable for major crimes because the training that they receive at DHS is subpar compared to the rest of our local law enforcement agencies.

So I'm kind of new to the bill and the, and the idea is we're still all trying to figure out some of the statistics behind it. But I think when there's this much money that comes into a system, it creates kind of perverse incentives that we got to prepare for.

Okay, thank you very much.

So, Chair, I have a question, since you're sitting there. So you're looking at other states and they're, what they're doing in response. Is this, is this going to fix the problem? Because what we're saying is we're not going to hire you back. If you go, you go. But, you know, again, we have a vacancy.

We have, we have shortages. And if they do go because the grass is greener on the other side, then, you know, bringing them back is there... You still have a shortage, more of a shortage in the long term. So have you seen anything in other states that might be more effective than what we're suggesting here in this bill?

So there's a bill that is moving in Washington state right now. There's another bill that is moving in Illinois. There's one that is moving in California, one in Maryland. And then cities, Cambridge, Massachusetts is also moving one at the municipal level. That's all of my testimony on page nine there.

So there are other options than not hiring back, or are they all similar to this?

These are all similar to this. There's a kind of like when we had to deal with tobacco. Right. There was a bunch of different bills to try to deal with that issue. So this deals with one special specific issue, which is what do you do when you have one agency all of a sudden that gets flooded with cash?

I know, because I've followed a bunch of these issues, is that the sheriffs, who are typically quite supportive of Department of Homeland Security, got very upset when all of a sudden they started seeing recruiting emails going out through their own Listservs to deputy sheriffs and them poaching from within their own agencies. And I think the other question will be, is if there, if Department of Homeland Security remains having very little oversight.

That those individuals could be put in the position of, you know, like some of the agents that have been in Minneapolis, where now they are liable for crimes. And then how does that impact whether or not they're hirable and how do we address some of the those potential harms here? So does that answer your question? A work in progress. Sorry, we're all trying to respond as best we can in the moment. Appreciate it.

Any further questions? Thank you. This brings us to the end of our agenda. So Chairs would like to recess.

Yep, recess subject...

Great afternoon. We're reconvening our 3pm joint agenda before the Committee on Labor and Technology and Public Safety and Military Affairs. We're now in decision making. First up is Senate Bill 3082. This is relating to military families. Chairs having conferred, the recommendation is to pass with amendments, technical amendments, and change the effective date to January 1, 2077. Any further discussion? If not, Vice Chair Lamosao for the vote. Chair votes aye.

Okay. Members for Labor and Technology, voting on SB 3082. Recommendation of the Chair is to pass with amendments. Chair votes aye. Vice Chair also votes aye. [Roll Call] Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

For Public Safety Committee, same recommendation. And asking Senator Hashimoto to take the vote on this first one. Chair votes aye.

Members, SB 3082. Chair's organization pass with amendments. Chair votes aye. Vice Chair's excused. [Roll Call] Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you. On the next measure, Senate Bill 3110, relating to the Hawaii National Guard. Chair recommends that we pass this measure with technical, non-substantive amendments and move it on to its next committee. Any questions? If not, then Senator Hashimoto, if you would take the vote.

Members, SB 3110. Chair's recommendation is pass with amendments. Any Members voting with reservations? Any Members voting no? With noted excuse of Vice Chair Lee and Inouye. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Okay. Same recommendation for Committee on Labor and technology on SB 3110 to pass with amendments. Any for discussion? If not, Vice Chair Lamosao for the vote. Chair votes aye.

Okay. Members, voting on SB 3110. Recommendation of the Chair is to pass with amendments. Noting the excused absence of Senator Ihara and also Fevella. Anyone voting with reservations or no? Hearing none. All Members present. Chair vote aye. Your recommendation is adopted.

Okay. For the last measure, Senate Bill 3251, relating to public safety, chair recommends that we pass this measure with amendments to update the legislative findings and a defective effective date to keep the conversation going, noting some of the concerns raised. That'll be included in the committee report. Any questions? Comments? If not, then Senator Hashimoto, if you'll take the vote?

Chair-- members, SB 3251. Chair's recommendation's to pass with amendments, noting the presence of Vice Chair Lee. Any other members voting with reservations? Any no votes?

No.

No vote from Senator DeCorte. Also noting the excuse of Senator Inouye. Chair, recommendation's adopted.

Thank you. This concludes our hearing.

Oh, hang on. We have to vote on the last one. Sorry. And, members, for the Committee on Labor and Technology on SB 3251, relating to public safety, same recommendation as PSM to pass with amendments. Any discussion?

Chair--

If not-- yes.

I'm going to vote with reservation only because of the impact on individuals, and our vacancy will be even more so with this.

Understood. Concern so noted. Any further discussion? Okay. If not--

This is 3251?

Yes. The last item.

Okay, yeah. No for me.

Okay. Noting the no vote for Senator Fevella. Any other discussion? If not, Vice Chair Lamosao for the vote. Chair votes aye.

Okay. Members, we are voting on SB 3251. Recommendation of the chair is to pass with amendments, noting the--sorry--excused absence of Senator Ihara and then also the presence of Senator Fevella. Anyone present voting with reservations or no? Reservations for Moriwaki and--sorry--and then also no for Senator Fevella. Anyone else voting with reservations or no? Hearing none. Chair, your recommendation is adopted.

Okay. Thank you so much. This concludes our joint agenda. We're adjourned.

Great afternoon, everyone. It is 3:01. You're welcome. February 18th, Wednesday. We are in Conference Room 225 at the Hawaii State Capitol. This hearing is being streamed live on the Hawaii state's YouTube channel. And before I continue, Members, on a point of personal privilege, I would like to wish my Vice Chair, Senator Lamasao, a happy belated birthday.

So Happy belated birthday. We won't ask you how old you are. With that being said, we'll continue on in the unlikely case of technical failures. This meeting will reconvene here in Conference Room 225 later today. For all testifiers, including those on Zoom, we ask that you stand on your written testimony.

Okay.

If your oral testimony is different from your written testimony, the time limit for each testifier will be one minute. The content, including the hearing notice, copies of the measures and testimony can be found on the Legislature's website. And if time permits, decision making will occur after we hear from all those offering testimonies.

Members, we just have two items on our agenda. First up is Senate Bill 3095. This is relating to the Hawaii Employer Union Health Benefits Trust Fund Investment office staff salaries. This enables the board of trustees of the Hawaii Employer Union Health Benefits Trust Fund to establish appropriate salaries for the investment office staff of the trust fund.

First up is Donna Tonaki, Assistant Administrator for ETF. Aloha. Welcome.

Aloha. Good afternoon. Chair Elefante, Vice Chair Lamosao and Members of the Committee. And happy birthday. Happy belated birthday. The ETF stands by it's written testimony in support of the bill.

If there's any questions.

Okay, thank you so much, Donna. Okay, that completes our list of registered testifiers. Anyone else on SB 3095? Members questions? If not, we'll move on to our next item and our last item, which is Senate Bill 3264. This is relating to the Hawaii Employer Union Health Benefits Trust Fund staff salaries.

Authorizes the Board of Trustees of the Hawaii Employer Union Health Benefits Trust Fund to establish the salary for an assistant administrator. We also on this one we have James Wataru, Chairperson of the EUTF Board of Trustees, in support. And Osa Tui, President of HSTA, in support. Is there anyone else that wishes to testify on this measure?

If not Members questions? If not, I'm prepared to make my recommendation if we're ready to roll into dm. Okay, rolling into decision making. First up is Senate Bill 3095. This is relating to the Hawaii Employer Union Health Benefits Trust Fund Investment Office staff salaries.

Chair is going to recommend that we pass with amendments changing the effective date to January 1, 2077. Any further discussion? Okay. If not, Vice Chair Lamasao for the vote. Chevrolet.

Okay. Members were voting on SB 3095. Recognition of the chairs to pass with amendments. Chair votes aye. Vice Chair also votes aye. Senator Yara is excused. [unintelligible] is also excused. [unintelligible] is adopted.

And our last item on our agenda, Senate Bill 3264. This is relating to the Hawaii Employer Union Health Benefits Trust Fund staff salaries. Chair is going to recommend we pass with amendments, change the effective date to January 1, 2077. Any further discussion? If not, Vice Chair Lamosao for the vote. Chair votes aye.

Members, we're voting on SB 3264. Recommendation of the Chair is to pass with amendments. Noting the excused absence of Senator Ihara and also Fevella. Anyone voting with reservations or no? Hearing none. All Members present. Chair vote aye. Your recommendation is adopted.

Thank you so much, Members. Have a great afternoon. Thank you to everyone who participated. We are adjourned.