Senate takes up WITHIN AN HOUR of hearing that a legislative conference committee approved a major government reform bill, Gov. Ben Cayetano was walking door to door in the Senate nailing down votes for passage.
historic reform
An ebullient governor works
the corridors for support as
unions pile on the pressure>> $6.25 Minimum wage likely
By Richard Borreca
and Lisa Asato
Star-BulletinSupporters in the House called the bill and two others to reform state government "the hallmark of this legislative session."
The bill would end the separate state-subsidized health insurance plans that separate unions have been able to run since 1994. The bill would bring all the plans together under one plan that would cost less.
"This is the biggest reform bill in the state Legislature," Cayetano said as he walked out of Sen. Carol Fukunaga's office and was ushered into Republican Sen. Sam Slom's office.
Later, Cayetano, who usually disagrees with the outspoken Hawaii Kai Republican, said he thought Slom would support the bill.
"He's a small-businessman, and he understands why this is important," Cayetano said.
Slom said he was still considering the measure and told Cayetano he would keep an open mind on it. "People I've talked to have mixed feelings about it, but we will decide next week," Slom said.
Others, like Sens. David Matsuura (D-Hilo) and Jan Yagi Buen (D-Maui), said they supported the bill but predicted a close vote.
"It is going to be close. The unions and the teachers are putting on a full-court press," Matsuura said. "It is going to go to the wire. Everybody is being lobbied extremely hard."
Cayetano acknowledged as much, noting that his tour of Senate offices was the first trip he made all session for one-on-one lobbying.
"They need to be convinced. Everyone is open, and the HSTA is lobbying very hard," Cayetano said.
"The Legislature is to be congratulated. I have been trying to get the bill through the Legislature for five years," he said.
Meanwhile, United Public Workers state Director Gary Rodrigues denounced the bill. "If the Senate and the House votes next week to pass this plan, they have just, without an election, been changed to a majority Republican Party, because every Democrat would have abandoned the philosophy of the Democrats to ensure the protection of the workers of Hawaii," he said.
"They just stole our rights to bargain. It will cost the workers all the pay raises that we negotiated for because it is not true what they are saying, that it'll save the plan," he said.
The state pays to cover the health costs of 50,000 state employees and 31,000 retirees, with the expenses of retirees' benefits growing $27 million a year.
Rodrigues called the state projections "totally wrong," but others pointed to a 1999 state audit showing that the health fund would cost the state $1 billion by 2013.
Rep. Sylvia Luke (D-Pauoa) praised Cayetano for lobbying the bill, adding that she expected the public unions to fight the measure. She said benefits would not be changed, just the way the health fund is administered.
The Legislature is also poised to pass next week a bill to restore the right to strike to the Hawaii Government Employees Association and another measure that would make it easier to privatize a government operation.
Other bills advancing for floor votes next week include:
>> Children under 8 years old and weighing less than 80 pounds would have to be secured in either a booster seat or child-safety seat when riding in cars. Current law calls for children under age 4 to have the safety seats. Older children are required to wear seat belts. The bill no longer contains a provision increasing the age limit, to 17 from 12, for passengers riding in the back of pickup trucks.
>> "Cybersquatting" -- the unauthorized registration of another person's name or trademark as an Internet domain name -- would be banned. Victims would be able to seek compensatory and punitive damages and court and attorney fees, and perpetrators would have to cancel or transfer the domain name to the owner of the mark.
>> After a year and a half of work on Hawaii's medical privacy law, lawmakers have moved to repeal the law and let the federal government run it.
>> Making or selling fraudulent identification documents that purport to be government-issued would become a criminal offense.
>> County agencies would no longer have a say in approving leasing and developing at airports. County Councils, however, would have a 45-day window to reject a proposed airport project.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Hawaii's hourly minimum wage would increase by $1 over the next two years, to $6.25 from $5.25, under a bill agreed to by House and Senate conferees yesterday. Minimum wage likely
to go up to $6.25By Lisa Asato
Star-BulletinThe bill also would raise the tip credit to 25 cents from 20 cents. The credit applies to employers of tipped workers who are paid 20 cents less than the minimum wage so long as their tips make up the difference by 50 cents or more.
Lawmakers in both houses will vote on the measure Tuesday. The proposed increase is made up of two 50-cent hikes, the first to $5.75 on Jan. 1, and the second to $6.25 on Jan. 1, 2003.
"It's a move in the right direction for the small percentage of people affected," said Audrey Hidano, state Labor Department deputy director.
According to department figures, 3 percent or less of the current work force earns the minimum wage.
Hidano said the first 50-cent increase would lag a little behind the inflation rate, but the wage would catch up in the second year, when it jumps to $6.25 an hour.
"It sounds like a win-win for everybody," she said, referring to the dual increases in minimum wage and the tip credit.
Restaurant lobbyist Pat McCain, however, had made increasing the tip credit his priority, and he was disappointed by the 5-cent increase.
"The tip credit was everything," said McCain, president of the Hawaii Restaurant Association.
"We're really disappointed," he said. "At one time we had 10 percent (on the table)."
McCain was referring to a House proposal to change the flat 20-cent credit to a percentage, which would keep it proportional to future increases in the minimum wage. A 10 percent tip credit, for example, would let employers pay tipped employees an hourly wage that is 10 percent less than the prevailing minimum wage.
"With the economy down for the past 10 years, we were hoping for a little consideration for the struggling businesses that create the jobs," he said.
Senate Labor Chairman Bob Nakata (D, Kaneohe), who earlier pushed for abolishing the tip credit, said the majority of senators feel the tip credit cheats tip earners out of their wages. He said that attitude is shared in Western states such as California, Oregon and Washington, which do not offer a tip credit.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Massachusetts offers the nation's highest hourly minimum wage at $6.75. With Hawaii's proposed increase to $6.25 in 2003, the state would rank fifth in the nation. The federal minimum wage rate is $5.15 an hour.
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