The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii is calling for the defeat of a bill scheduled for a vote on the floor of the state Senate next week that would require the buyer of any business with 100 or more employees to retain all non-management staff.

The Chamber urged its members to ask their state senators to vote against HB634. The measure has already cleared the House and is scheduled Tuesday for a Senate vote.

The bill includes an exception that would allow the acquiring company to retain fewer than 100 percent of the employees if “the business of the successor employer is substantially dissimilar to the former employer’s business, or the human resource needs of the successor employer are reduced.”

If the bill becomes law it would be the only one of its kind in the nation, according to a letter the Chamber sent to members.

“While a few exceptions are included, this bill goes too far in private business matters,” Chamber officials wrote in the letter. “It will hurt any businesses who want to sell their businesses at market value and help their employees.”

“Many potential buyers will be wary of buying a business in Hawaii or investing as a majority owner and providing much-needed capital to that business,” the letter continued.

Those testifying in support of the bill at recent committee hearings included the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142, the Hawaii Government Employees Association Local 152 and the AFL-CIO.

Among those testifying against the bill were the Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, the Retail Merchants of Hawaii, the Maui Chamber of Commerce, Tesoro Hawaii LLC, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the General Contractors Association of Hawaii, the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association and the Island Princess candy company.

Gwen Purdy, who owns Island Princess with her husband, said that while she understood the intent of the bill, she predicted there would be unintended consequences.

“They are trying to protect employees, but it will have the opposite effect. Any company that is struggling and trying to find a buyer won’t be able to do so if the new company is forced to keep all the employees,” she said.

The new owner would likely keep some of the employees but probably wouldn’t even make an offer to buy the business if it included a mandate to keep all the workers, she added.

“It’s difficult enough to do business in Hawaii to begin with. Shipping costs are humongous for the supplies we bring in and the products we ship out. And the state keeps putting more and more regulations on us. It’s difficult to compete,” she said.

Island Princess, founded by Purdy and her husband in 1985, has about 70 employees on Oahu and 70 on Hawaii island.