By Kevin Dayton
Advertiser Capitol Bureau Chief
The state Senate Ways and Means Committee approved a half-dozen bills yesterday to earmark hundreds of millions of dollars for raises for public employees, including one measure that Gov. Ben Cayetano has promised to veto.
That bill would appropriate $153 million from the general treasury for raises won by the Hawai‘i Government Employees Association in an arbitration decision last year.
Cayetano contends that decision is illegal, and has promised to kill the measure. But Ways and Means Chairman Brian Taniguchi, D-11th (McCully, Mo‘ili‘ili, Manoa) said he as far as he can determine, the arbitration award is valid.
"If the court rules that it is the settlement, then we basically are obligated to fund it, and that’s been the direction of our caucus, that we’re going to try to fund the raises as much as possible," Taniguchi said.
Cayetano contends the arbitration panel overstepped its authority in awarding 23,000 HGEA members raises ranging from 9 percent to 17 percent over a four-year contract.
Cayetano wants the union to begin new negotiations with the state, but the union is lobbying lawmakers to instead appropriate money to pay for the raises. Most lawmakers say they favor paying the raises because they believe the state is legally bound to honor the arbitration decision.
Taniguchi said he isn’t sure what would happen if the governor were to veto the HGEA bill. The Legislature has not overridden a veto since Hawai‘i became a state in 1959.
"If he should veto that, we’re going to have to plan on what we have to do at that point," Taniguchi said. "I don’t think we’re ready to override yet. We certainly would want to talk to him before we did anything like that. We certainly would want to talk to him before he vetoes the bill."
The measures advanced by the Senate Ways and Means Committee yesterday included Senate Bill 18, which includes $153 million in general appropriations for HGEA raises over the next two years, and another $30 million in special appropriations.
Taniguchi allowed Ways and Means Vice Chairman Colleen Hanabusa to lead the committee as it considered that bill because Taniguchi’s wife, Jan, is a University of Hawai‘i employee and a member of an HGEA bargaining unit. She would receive a raise if the bill becomes law.
Taniguchi voted in favor of the bill after the committee finished its discussion.
Also approved were senate bills 1034 and 1035, which earmark $27 million from the general treasury for raises for members of the United Public Workers union, and another $12 million in special appropriations.
The UPW represents about 11,300 blue-collar state and county employees, including prison guards, nurses, maintenance employees and road crews.
The money in the bills approved yesterday would cover only the cost of the raises for the UPW and HGEA members employed by the state. The counties must raise money on their own to pay raises for their employees.
Also approved were bills to provide raises for teachers and university faculty, but those measures did not specify how much those raises will cost. The Hawai‘i State Teachers Association is still trying to negotiate a new contract for the state’s 12,000 public school teachers, and the University of Hawai‘i Professional Assembly is still bargaining on behalf of the 3,100 university and community college faculty members.
The teachers union is seeking a 22 percent increase over four years. Teacher salaries range from $29,000 to about $58,000. The state’s latest offer is about 11 percent.
The UH Professional Assembly is seeking a 14.9 percent increase over four years.
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