Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 249 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to enable part-time employees who work less that twenty hours per week to participate in a medical insurance plan offered by their employer.

Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by the Hawaii Nurses' Association, ILWU Local 142, and NAMI Oahu: Oahu's Voice on Mental Illness. Testimony in opposition to the measure was received from Legislative Information Services of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that many individuals who desire medical insurance coverage are unable to afford such coverage due to the prohibitive cost of individual medical insurance plan premiums. Individual medical insurance plans usually assign higher premium rates since the cost of the plan or its risks cannot be spread among multiple insureds.

Your Committee further finds that the measure addresses this problem by enabling an employer to offer a part-time employee an opportunity to participate in the group or group-type health benefits plan that the employer provides for full-time employees or part-time employees who work more than twenty hours a week. If the part-time employee chooses to enroll in the employer's medical insurance plan, the employee would be responsible for paying all premium costs associated with participation in the plan chosen.

Your Committee believes that providing part-time employees with the opportunity to obtain a discounted medical insurance plan, at little or no cost to the employer, would benefit all parties involved.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 249 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection and Housing.