STAND

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 655

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 629

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 Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 629 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to amend chapter 88, HRS, to give the Board of Trustees of the Employees' Retirement System (ERS) the authority to settle or compromise claims or potential claims by ERS members who detrimentally rely on erroneous information provided by the ERS.

The Judiciary, Employees' Retirement System, and Hawaii State Teachers Association testified in support of this bill.

Your Committee finds that this bill will provide judicial economy and saves ERS members and the ERS from the cost and time that would be spent to achieve the same results through the courts. Your Committee also notes that the intent of this bill is to make affected members whole again.

Your Committee amended this bill by:

(1) Amending section 3, by changing the effective date language pertaining to the reference "claims existing" to now read, "unresolved claims existing," in order to clarify that claims affected by the measure must be unresolved on the effective date;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2020, to encourage further discussion on the measure; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for purposes of style and clarity.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 629, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 629, H.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

		____________________________ SYLVIA LUKE, Chair