By COLIN M. STEWART
By COLIN M. STEWART
Tribune-Herald Staff Writer
A bill that would require Hawaii businesses to offer their employees a minimum amount of paid sick leave passed its third reading in the Senate on Tuesday.
Big Isle state Sens. Malama Solomon, D-Honokaa, Laupahoehoe, Hamakua, Waiakea Uka, Keaukaha, Waimea, and Gil Kahele, D-Ka‘u, Puna, Hilo, voted to approve the measure, albeit with reservations. They joined 11 other senators in doing so. A total of 19 voted for House Bill 341 without reservations. Six voted against it, including state Sen. Josh Green, D-Kohala, Kona.
Kahele did not return a phone call seeking comment late Wednesday afternoon. Solomon, however, said that she had chosen to vote for the measure with reservations because “I want to see how the bill is going to come out of conference committee, and then I’ll decide if I’m gonna vote up or down,” she said. “I have concerns. You know, small businesses at this time in Hawaii’s economy, they need as many breaks as they can possibly get in order to keep our economy going.”
Green agreed, saying that he voted against the bill for that reason.
“I’m mindful of putting any extra burdens on businesses that are still finding their way through the recession,” he said. “This bill was just a little bit of an over-reach. I felt that the people that would be affected are already offering more sick leave than that. To mandate it on businesses just seemed a little bit unfair during the recovery.”
Green added that in most cases, employees in unions and of large companies are already provided sick leave.
But according to state Rep. Roy M. Takumi, D-Pearl City, who introduced HB 341, the measure is an attempt to speak for the more than 150,000 Hawaii workers who don’t have paid sick leave.
“If you’re that type of worker, you have two choices: Go to work if you’re sick, or stay home and not get paid,” he said in a phone interview Wednesday afternoon.
Takumi said he could understand the backlash from small business owners, but said that he believed their concerns were unfounded. In fact, he said, requiring sick leave has been shown in some cases to save businesses money in the long run.
“There are a number of studies that show that the savings accrue,” he said. “And from a societal standpoint, if you’re a customer in a restaurant, you probably wouldn’t want your server with the flu to be serving you.”
Takumi pointed to a similar law in San Francisco that took effect in 2007. When it was being debated in the legislature there, he said, the Chamber of Commerce and the Golden Gate Restaurant Association came out strongly against the measure. But now that it has been in effect for five years, their opinion has softened.
The latest revision of Hawaii’s bill would require that employers allow all workers who work at least 680 hours a year to accrue a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked. Employees would not be able to accrue more than 40 hours of paid leave in a calendar year.
The Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce has been rallying its troops in an effort to defeat the measure. A mass email sent to members Wednesday morning urged them to call and write the representatives who voted “no” to thank them for their support, and to contact those who had voted “aye with reservations” to convince them to change their minds.
“These legislators voted this way either because they are on the ‘fence,’ have lukewarm support for the bill, or opposes the bill but supported with reservations for strategic reasons, or did not know the full extent of the bill. In the end, they will be critical so it’s good that although these were not ‘no’ votes, we still have a chance to work with them if the bill goes to conference,” the email reads.
According to the Chamber mailing, “while this bill may sound good, it is ANTI-BUSINESS and ANTI-FREEDOM. It purports to solve a ‘problem’ by ‘mandating’ a solution rather than allowing employers and employees of good will to come together on this issue.”
Email Colin M. Stewart at cstewart@hawaiitribune-herald.com.