RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the Department of Human Services contracts with providers, including corporations, to perform attendant care and day care authorized under the Social Security Act, as amended; and

WHEREAS, under the Department of Human Services contracts, the providers are the recipients of social service payments; and

WHEREAS, the providers subcontract with and employ individuals to provide attendant care and day care services; and

WHEREAS, sections 386-1, 392-3, and 393-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, exclude from the definitions of "employment" "domestic, which includes attendant care, and day care services authorized by the department of human services under the Social Security Act, as amended, performed by an individual in the employ of a recipient of social service payments"; and

WHEREAS, in 1978, the Senate, in Standing Committee Report No. 314-78, and the House, in Standing Committee Report No. 743-78, both found that because the Department of Labor and industrial Relations and the Internal Revenue Service had classified this type of domestic service as an employer-employee relationship, all pertinent employer contributions relating to Employment Security Law, Workers' Compensation Law, Temporary Disability Insurance Law, and the Prepaid Health Care Law would be assessed on and paid for by the eligible recipients; and

WHEREAS, the Standing Committees of the Senate and the House also found that domestic employment should be excluded from the statutory requirements of Employment Security Law, Workers' Compensation Law, Temporary Disability Insurance Law, and the Prepaid Health Care Law in order to better facilitate the receipt of social services by eligible recipients; and

WHEREAS, Act 110, Session Laws of Hawaii 1978, excluded domestic services from the definitions of employment under State Workers' Compensation Law, Temporary Disability Insurance Law, and the Prepaid Health Care Law, no similar exclusion was made from the Employment Security Law; and

WHEREAS, prior to enactment of Act 110, Session Laws of Hawaii 1978, the House amended the measure to delete a section that may have been the amendment to the Employment Security Law to exclude domestic services from the definition of employment; and

WHEREAS, it is unclear from available information as to why the services were not excluded from Employment Security Law requirements; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2006, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is requested to conduct a study on the exemptions of domestic services authorized by the Department of Human Services under the Social Security Act, as amended, to:

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is requested to submit a report to the Legislature on its findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation, if appropriate, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations and the Director of Human Services.

Report Title:

DLIR; Exclusion of Domestic Services; Employment Security Law