STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1221
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2005
RE: S.B. No. 813
S.D. 2
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2005
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred S.B. No. 813, S.D. 2, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT SECURITY,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to assist unemployed individuals and to support efforts to develop a skilled workforce by:
(1) Authorizing the use of Reed Act funds to provide unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and for the administration of the State's UI system, including its public employment offices; and
(2) Allocating $20,000,000 of the $31,000,000 in Reed Act funds to improve the services of the UI Division and Workforce Development Division of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) with a provision that:
(A) $6,000,000 be allocated to the four county workforce investment boards for, among other things, employer outreach services, labor force pool expansion, and capacity building; and
(B) $1,000,000 be allocated to Leeward Community College (LCC) for education and job training for immigrants from the Freely Associated States pursuant to the workforce development program established under Act 225, Session Laws of Hawaii 2004.
The Mayor of the County of Hawaii, Department of Community Services of the City and County of Honolulu, and ILWU Local 142 testified in support of this measure. DLIR commented on this measure but stated that they preferred the original language of S.B. No. 813.
As a result of the Balance Budget Act of 1997, $31,000,000 was deposited into the unemployment insurance trust fund account. However, these funds were not available for workforce development because federal restrictions require that these funds be strictly used for UI benefit payments. Recent amendments to federal law have expanded the means by which these funds can now be used to include programs geared toward workforce development.
Your Committee finds that efforts to improve the skills of Hawaii's workforce are ongoing and that the additional resources provided through the use of Reed Act funds will go a long way toward developing and maintaining a highly skilled workforce.
However, your Committee does understand concerns raised regarding the allocation of $1,000,000 in Reed Act funds to LCC and that this allocation may be disallowed under federal law which may place the use of these funds in jeopardy. This is not the intent of your Committee. Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Inserting language clarifying that if a provision is deemed to be in conflict with federal requirements that are a prescribed condition for the allocation of federal funds, the provision would be deemed inoperative solely to the extent of the conflict and with respect to the agencies directly affected; and
(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 813, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 813, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor & Public Employment,
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____________________________ KIRK CALDWELL, Chair |
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