LIHUE — A pair of state lawmakers said a pay raise resolution passed this week by the County Council probably won’t amount to much any time soon. Even some on the council question the impact of resolutions, though those in
LIHUE — A pair of state lawmakers said a pay raise resolution passed this week by the County Council probably won’t amount to much any time soon.
Even some on the council question the impact of resolutions, though those in favor say the nonbinding symbolic gestures are important ways to get the dialogue moving on pressing issues.
“I wanted to make a strong statement to the Legislature, and the world, if you will,” said Councilman Gary Hooser, who supported the council’s 4-3 decision to approve a resolution that supports the state raising the minimum wage for certain employees in 2020 to $15 an hour. “This is important to us. People are struggling.”
Resolutions are symbolic gestures of support a council takes on an issue and passes along to other agencies.
In this case, it went to the Legislature. It asks the state to consider the bump in pay in 2020, after raises the Legislature passed last year have been implemented.
Right now, minimum wage is $7.75 in Hawaii. That will go up to $10.10 an hour by Jan. 1, 2018.
But increasing it more won’t be a pressing issue for the Legislature, certainly not this year, Rep. Dee Morikawa said.
Lawmakers hashed out an agreement recently, so it won’t go back to the drawing board any time soon.
“I doubt it. We’ve got too many other things coming up on the next session,” she said, adding that addressing the homeless problem will be one topic that will likely take priority.
Also, she said, it’s difficult to start making decisions on an economic situation so many years in the future. A lot can happen to the nation’s financial situation between now and 2020. And as for the weight resolutions carry in general, she didn’t think they carried a heck of a lot.
“Even when we make resolutions to the federal government, it doesn’t do much,” she said.
The resolution asks for $15 an hour for employees in businesses whose sales exceed $1.25 million. It would be $12.50 an hour for businesses between $500,000 and $1.2 million and $11 an hour for one whose sales are less than $500,000. It also called for some employees to earn better health benefits and sick leave, among other things.
Councilmembers Mel Rapozo, Mason Chock, Hooser, and KipuKai Kuali’i voted in support. Ross Kagawa, Arryl Kaneshiro, and JoAnn Yukimura voted against.
Rep. James Tokioka, who worked in the House while the last pay raise was negotiated, said it’s hard to imagine the resolution will change lawmakers minds on what they just decided. He said he respects the county’s right to weigh in on state issues, but the wage increase discussion included intricate details that have to be studied, like tax incentives for small businesses to help them cope with raising pay.
“I can tell you we, as a state legislators, never send the county resolutions on things we’d like to see them work on,” he said.
Kaneshiro said he voted against it because he felt the amounts cited seemed arbitrary and it’s a state issue, anyway. As far as resolutions in general, the first year councilman said he’s unsure if they make a difference.
“A resolution is a resolution,” he said. “It’s hard for me to say. I’ve sure there have been different results with different resolutions.”
Supporters cited federal data that says the county’s GPD never went down in the previous roughly 20 increases.
Kagawa agreed that more needs to be studied before taking a definitive stance.
“I have not been fully convinced that the positive impacts outweigh the negative ones,” he wrote. “What if this puts more people on unemployment? What if small businesses decide to cutback on labor costs or even worse, close because the payroll costs have eliminated their profit margins?”
But Hooser said resolutions in the very least start a dialogue on often statewide or national issues. A resolution by an entire government body carries a lot of weight, he said, just as 10 testimonies on a topic can outweigh just one. They’re made all the more important if other counties follow suit and add their voices to the topic.
“It’s a way we can elevate a very important conversation,” he said, adding that momentum on an issue is often started with a few voices. “That’s how movements happen.”
