There has been a lot of publicity lately about Senate Bill 2840, which would require 80 percent of workers on public works contracts and construction procurements be Hawaii residents. For people who are skeptical about the benefits of such a measure, let me explain why I feel it would greatly benefit Hawaii's work force and ultimately help us to rebound from the current economic slump.

Our efforts here in Hawaii are part of an emerging national and international effort to keep it local when awarding government contracts. All across the United States and in many other parts of the world, local workers are expressing dissatisfaction with their government for allowing foreign laborers to flood their labor pools. Closer to home, an unemployed construction worker in Cleveland, Ohio, may be out of work for months if the few available jobs go to people from other cities or other states.

Here in Hawaii, the $11 million Aloha Stadium renovation project could have hired 50 local construction workers. The project was awarded to a mainland company instead who hired all nonresidents who contribute very little into the local economy, sending most of their wages to their home states to support their families there instead. If the 80 percent resident requirement had been applied to this project, the economic activity would have pumped roughly $800,000 into the local economy.

This figure comes from a 2010 report done regarding the cost of out-of-state construction workers by Peter Philips, Ph.D., from the University of Utah and Kevin Duncan, Ph.D., from Colorado State University. The report offers evidence that the benefits of hiring local workers on local state construction projects does more than just benefit the construction industry. Local construction workers get jobs, their local spending stimulates local businesses and local businesses generate more tax revenue. That stimulus creates even more jobs for locals in other sectors of the economy.

If a project that hires 50 out-of-state workers has close to a million dollar impact, imagine the ramifications the upcoming rail project will have if nonresident workers are used. Building the rail system will create hundreds of construction jobs, but if most of those jobs aren't given to local residents, it could greatly impact our economy. With Hawaii's construction wages generally higher than their mainland counterparts, it will entice workers from other states, where the unemployment rates are even worse.

Satisfied that the bill can withstand the test of constitutionality, the Legislature sent SB 2840 to Gov. Linda Lingle on April 12, which started the calendar countdown of the 10 days she has to make a decision on the measure. Local jobs for local people means that money made in Hawaii stays in Hawaii, and that's a good thing.

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State Sen. Robert Bunda is a co-sponsor of the “;local jobs”; bill.