Hawaii 2023 Regular Session

Hawaii Senate Bill SCR117 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	THE SENATE S.C.R. NO. 117 THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023 STATE OF HAWAII SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION requesting the department of labor and industrial relations to conduct a study of the exemptions to hawaii's minimum wage law.
2	2
3	3	THE SENATE S.C.R. NO. 117
4	4	THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
5	5	STATE OF HAWAII
6	6
7	7	THE SENATE
8	8
9	9	S.C.R. NO.
10	10
11	11	117
12	12
13	13	THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
14	14
15	15
16	16
17	17	STATE OF HAWAII
18	18
19	19
20	20
21	21
22	22
23	23
24	24
25	25
26	26
27	27
28	28
29	29	SENATE CONCURRENT
30	30
31	31	RESOLUTION
32	32
33	33
34	34
35	35
36	36
37	37	requesting the department of labor and industrial relations to conduct a study of the exemptions to hawaii's minimum wage law.
38	38
39	39
40	40
41	41
42	42
43	43
44	44
45	45	WHEREAS, a living wage is a human right; and WHEREAS, by Act 114, Session Laws of Hawaii 2022, the State incrementally increased Hawaii's minimum wage from $12 per hour beginning October 1, 2022, to $18 per hour beginning January 1, 2028; and WHEREAS, numerous exemptions to Hawaii's minimum wage law are contained in section 387-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which lists occupations that are excluded from the applicable definition of "employee"; and WHEREAS, these exemptions include agricultural employees at farms employing less than twenty people, individuals engaged in coffee harvesting, domestic caretakers, administrative and supervisory employees, persons engaged in catching or harvesting fish, student employees of nonprofit schools, and many others; and WHEREAS, while the federal Fair Labor Standards Act has declared certain jobs to be exempt from state and federal minimum wage laws, many modern scholars have argued that these provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act promote racism, sexism, and pay discrimination; and WHEREAS, according to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a minimum wage employee must work one hundred twenty-three hours per week to afford a modest one-bedroom rental home at fair market rent in Hawaii; and WHEREAS, according to the Out of Reach 2022 report, a minimum wage employee must work one hundred sixty-one hours per week to afford a two-bedroom rental home at fair market rent in Hawaii; and WHEREAS, over sixty percent of households in the islands are severely cost burdened, meaning that they pay more than thirty percent of their income on housing, a number that rises to over eighty percent for extremely low-income households; and WHEREAS, this body finds that the exemptions to Hawaii's minimum wage law should be evaluated to determine if modifications are appropriate to ensure that working families are able to meet their basic needs as Hawaii's high cost of living continues to increase; now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is requested to conduct a study of the exemptions to Hawaii's minimum wage law; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the study is requested to specifically consider the exemptions from the definition of "employee" that are contained in section 387-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, including whether any of those exemptions should be repealed; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2024; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Director of Labor and Industrial Relations. OFFERED BY: _____________________________ Report Title: Minimum Wage; Exemptions; DLIR; Study; Report
46	46
47	47	WHEREAS, a living wage is a human right; and
48	48
49	49
50	50
51	51	WHEREAS, by Act 114, Session Laws of Hawaii 2022, the State incrementally increased Hawaii's minimum wage from $12 per hour beginning October 1, 2022, to $18 per hour beginning January 1, 2028; and
52	52
53	53
54	54
55	55	WHEREAS, numerous exemptions to Hawaii's minimum wage law are contained in section 387-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which lists occupations that are excluded from the applicable definition of "employee"; and
56	56
57	57
58	58
59	59	WHEREAS, these exemptions include agricultural employees at farms employing less than twenty people, individuals engaged in coffee harvesting, domestic caretakers, administrative and supervisory employees, persons engaged in catching or harvesting fish, student employees of nonprofit schools, and many others; and
60	60
61	61
62	62
63	63	WHEREAS, while the federal Fair Labor Standards Act has declared certain jobs to be exempt from state and federal minimum wage laws, many modern scholars have argued that these provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act promote racism, sexism, and pay discrimination; and
64	64
65	65
66	66
67	67	WHEREAS, according to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2022 report, a minimum wage employee must work one hundred twenty-three hours per week to afford a modest one-bedroom rental home at fair market rent in Hawaii; and
68	68
69	69
70	70
71	71	WHEREAS, according to the Out of Reach 2022 report, a minimum wage employee must work one hundred sixty-one hours per week to afford a two-bedroom rental home at fair market rent in Hawaii; and
72	72
73	73
74	74
75	75	WHEREAS, over sixty percent of households in the islands are severely cost burdened, meaning that they pay more than thirty percent of their income on housing, a number that rises to over eighty percent for extremely low-income households; and
76	76
77	77
78	78
79	79	WHEREAS, this body finds that the exemptions to Hawaii's minimum wage law should be evaluated to determine if modifications are appropriate to ensure that working families are able to meet their basic needs as Hawaii's high cost of living continues to increase; now, therefore,
80	80
81	81
82	82
83	83	BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is requested to conduct a study of the exemptions to Hawaii's minimum wage law; and
84	84
85	85
86	86
87	87	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the study is requested to specifically consider the exemptions from the definition of "employee" that are contained in section 387-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, including whether any of those exemptions should be repealed; and
88	88
89	89
90	90
91	91	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2024; and
92	92
93	93
94	94
95	95	BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Director of Labor and Industrial Relations.
96	96
97	97
98	98
99	99
100	100
101	101
102	102
103	103	OFFERED BY: _____________________________
104	104
105	105
106	106
107	107	OFFERED BY:
108	108
109	109	_____________________________
110	110
111	111	Report Title:
112	112
113	113	Minimum Wage; Exemptions; DLIR; Study; Report