REPORT TITLE:
Disabled Persons


DESCRIPTION:
Clarifies the present law regarding public work contract
preferences for programs which provide rehabilitation and
training to handicapped individuals and states that the wage
exemption for handicapped individuals under current law expressly
applies to chapter 104, HRS.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        
THE SENATE                              S.B. NO.           129
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO THE DISABLED.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The purpose of this Act is to clarify the
 
 2 present law regarding public work contract preferences for
 
 3 programs which provide rehabilitation and training to handicapped
 
 4 individuals and enforce the application of the wage exemption for
 
 5 handicapped individuals under current law to chapter 104, Hawaii
 
 6 Revised Statutes.  The exemption is necessary both to make these
 
 7 programs viable and to set realistic and therapeutically
 
 8 beneficial compensation standards for unskilled handicapped
 
 9 individuals.
 
10      SECTION 2.  Chapter 104, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended
 
11 by adding two new sections to be appropriately designated and to
 
12 read as follows:
 
13      "§104-     Services of handicapped individuals.  For
 
14 government contracting agencies issuing construction contracts
 
15 under this chapter, a five per cent preference shall be given for
 
16 services performed by nonprofit corporations or public service
 
17 agencies operating a qualified rehabilitation facility as defined
 
18 in section 103-81 and for a handicapped individual as defined in
 
19 section 103-81; provided that construction contracts awarded
 

 
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 1 under this section shall be exempt from section 104-2.
 
 2      The state comptroller shall adopt rules under chapter 91 no
 
 3 later than one year after the effective date of this section to
 
 4 establish the procedures to implement this section.  However, the
 
 5 adoption of rules shall not be a prerequisite to the State's
 
 6 obligation to comply with these provisions immediately upon the
 
 7 effective date of this section.
 
 8      §104-     Employment of handicapped individuals on public
 
 9 works projects.  (a)  A handicapped individual in a training
 
10 program operated by a qualified rehabilitation facility as
 
11 defined in section 103-81 shall not work on a project for more
 
12 than six months unless the individual's counseling team
 
13 determines that additional training time is beneficial to the
 
14 handicapped individual.
 
15      (b)  Sections 104-2 to 104-4 shall not apply to a qualified
 
16 rehabilitation facility as defined in section 103-81 or to those
 
17 handicapped individuals in training programs; provided that a
 
18 handicapped individual in a training program referred to in
 
19 subsection (a) shall not be paid less than the minimum wage under
 
20 section 387-2."
 
21      SECTION 4.  New statutory material is underscored.
 

 
 
 
 
 
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                                     S.B. NO.           129
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      SECTION 5.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
 2 
 
 3                              INTRODUCED BY:______________________