Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1772 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Department of Human Services to annually identify employers of applicants for medical assistance programs and report them to the Legislature, which shall include costs of medical assistance to those applicants. The measure further requires the department to make these employers public without identifying individual applicants.

Testimony in support of the measure was submitted by the Department of Human Services, Hawaii State AFL-CIO, United Public Workers, ILWU Local 142, and an individual.

Your Committee finds that many employees at large companies are paid such low wages that they qualify for government subsidy programs. In many instances, the low wage earner is provided health care coverage through subsidy programs rather than their employer. Increasingly, some private employers have been passing along these business expenses to the public. This measure is intended to allow Hawaii to determine which employers are shifting their responsibilities to the taxpayers.

As a point of clarification, it is not the intent of this measure to require the department to implement new programs but rather to gather and process the information it currently collects.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1772 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.