Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 2228, H.D. 2, entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to ensure that a vested firefighter who is deemed medically disqualified due to a work-related injury does not lose the benefit of an accelerated pension accrual rate.

The City and County of Honolulu's Department of Human Resources and Police Department and the Hawaii State Firefighters Association testified in support of the measure.

Specifically, the measure enables a firefighter who:

to retain the two and one-half per cent annual pension accrual rate for those years of service as a firefighter.

Your Committee finds that under existing law, firefighters are provided with a higher annual pension accrual rate than normal class A, contributory members of the Employees' Retirement System. This accelerated pension accrual rate is provided due in part to the risks taken by firefighters.

However, if a firefighter suffers a service-related disability and can no longer fulfill his or her duties, the firefighter is medically disqualified from service as a firefighter. As a consequence to this disqualification, if the medically disqualified firefighter takes a subsequent public sector position, that firefighter loses the right to have the years of service as a firefighter computed at the accelerated pension accrual rate.

Your Committee believes that firefighters who become medically disqualified due to a service-related disability should not have their retirement benefits penalized for assuming the risks of their jobs as firefighters.

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 H.B. No. 2228, H.D. 2, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.