‘Living Wage’ bill dies as legislative deadline passes

At midnight on Friday, April 27, House Bill 760, the so-called “Living Wage” bill, died.

This measure had passed virtually unopposed through the Hawai‘i House of Representatives before it came to the attention of more than a few nonprofits. By the time it was heard by the Senate Ways and Means Committee, however, the Hawai‘i Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations, the ARC of Hawai‘i, Goodwill Industries of Hawai‘i, the Legal Aid Society of Hawai‘i, the Hawai‘i Primary Care Association, the Hawaiian Humane Society and other nonprofits were urging Legislators to exempt nonprofits from the bill until its impacts could be assessed and appropriations adjusted to meet higher labor costs.

HANO supports paying all workers living wages, especially employees of nonprofits. However, the bill was an unfunded mandate that placed the entire burden on contractors. It said nothing about increasing government funding to meet higher labor costs. There were no provisions to exempt workforce development programs or other programs to employ clients and no recognition that many state contracts are already under-funded, requiring nonprofits to fundraise to meet current payrolls.

The bill would have required all nonprofits with state, city or county contracts of $25,000 or more to pay all workers minimum salaries of $23,000 per year. What’s more, nonprofits would have to pay any workers who did work similar to that of a state worker wages that at least matched that state worker. 

By the time it reached Conference Committee, Legislators were aware that either nonprofits should be exempted pending a study of the bill’s impact, or the bill should be deferred. Tom Huber, president of the ARC in Hawai‘i, Laura Robertson of Goodwill, Nalani Fujimori of LASH and John Flanagan of HANO worked with Legislators and staff during three days of Conference Committee meetings leading up to the death of the bill Friday night.