Lingle signs bill into law
to pay $4.3M to workers
Gov. Linda Lingle approved almost $13 million in appropriations yesterday when she signed into law a bill to fund various claims against the state.
The measure, Senate Bill 2834, includes $4.3 million owed to state employees represented by United Public Workers for a proposed deferred compensation plan that had not been implemented.
The money was owed to about 9,600 prison guards, licensed practical nurses and blue-collar workers. The UPW never set up the plan, so the state had not paid the money as required by a four-year contract that began in 1999.
As part of the union's contract with the state and the counties that started July 1, 1999, the employers agreed to put into a UPW deferred compensation fund $7 per employee each month beginning Jan. 1, 2001. The agreement required the employers to contribute $132 per employee in 2001 and $156 in 2002.
The remainder of the appropriation includes money to pay other claims against the state, such as insurance claims and tax refunds.
Other bills signed yesterday by Lingle include House Bill 2472, which makes permanent a law to allow the sale of sterile syringes for the prevention of disease.
Another measure, SB 3085, allows advanced practice registered nurses to continue to have authority to write certain prescriptions.
Office of the Governor
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