Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor and Public Employment, to which was referred H.B. No. 1374 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to provide employers the option of selecting a medical care provider to provide medical services to an employee injured in the workplace.

The Administration has proposed an omnibus bill intended to reform Hawaii's workers' compensation system. That measure, H.B. No. 2486, contains nine separate components pertaining to:

.

To facilitate the thorough review of each of these components, proposed house drafts reflecting the deletion of current contents and the insertion of new language pertaining to each of the components found in House Bill No. 2486 were heard for purposes of receiving testimony and public comment.

The proposed new contents for House Bill No. 1374 would require administrative penalties for fraudulently received benefits or payments under workers' compensation law, and entitle any party that successfully investigates workers' compensation fraud to fifty percent of a fine not more than $10,000 for each violation upon a determination that fraud was committed.

Testimony in support of this bill was received from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Department of Human Resources Development, Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, National Federation of Independent Business, American Physical Therapy Association, Hawaii Insurers Council, Hawaii Employers' Mutual Insurance Company, Inc., and First Insurance Company of Hawaii, Ltd.

Testimony was received from ILWU Local 142, United Public Workers AFSCME, Local 646, AFL-CIO, Hawaii Government Employees Association, Hawaii IBEW, Hawaii State AFL-CIO, Hawaii State Chiropractic Association, and a concerned citizen in opposition to this bill.

Your Committee has amended this bill by inserting the provisions of the proposed house draft, and making additional amendments including:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor and Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1374, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1374, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.