STAND

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1001

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 761

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 Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 761 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FAMILY LEAVE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to assist military troops and their families in Hawaii by allowing an employee to use family leave during any calendar year upon the military deployment of the employee's child, spouse, reciprocal beneficiary, or parent.

The Hawaii National Guard Enlisted Association and a concerned individual testified in support of this bill. The Department of Human Resources Development and Department of Labor and Industrial Relations testified in support of the intent of this measure. The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, Society for Human Resource Management - Hawaii Chapter, and The Honolulu Advertiser opposed this bill.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that family leave upon the military deployment of an employee's child, spouse, reciprocal beneficiary, or parent can only be taken to provide family care and support;

(2) Specifying that family leave upon the military deployment of an employee's child, spouse, reciprocal beneficiary, or parent can only be used during the period of military deployment;

(3) Requiring an employee claiming family leave based upon the military deployment of the employee's child, spouse, reciprocal beneficiary, or parent to provide proof of military deployment;

(4) Defining the term "military deployment" to mean the deployment of, by order of a branch of the United States military, an employee serving in the military to a region where hostile and hazardous combat or peacekeeping activities are being conducted;

(5) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2010, to encourage further discussion; and

(6) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 761, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 761, H.D. 1.

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

		____________________________ DWIGHT TAKAMINE, Chair