STAND

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 403

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 1865

S.D. 1

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Labor and Education and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 1865 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT PIPELINE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to amend the composition of the workforce development council (WDC) to include the private business sector chairpersons from the four county workforce investment boards, or their designees.

This measure also:

(1) Limits the term of the four members of the WDC from the legislature to two years;

(2) Amends the duties of the WDC to include job training program funding disbursal and a determination of the actual time required to complete programs; and

(3) Appropriates funds for job training and education programs of the Department of Education and the University of Hawaii.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, the WDC, and the University of Hawaii.

Your Committees find that in 2004, the Legislature passed H.C.R. 112, H.D. 1, which sought specific information on actions undertaken with regard to the identification and development of industry clusters, the development of labor supply and demand matrices, and the expansion of the educational pipeline. In response, the WDC indicated that increased numbers of individuals must continue on to post-secondary education because jobs in the future will require advanced education. Therefore, your Committees find that the WDC's comprehensive state plan should be amended to include provisions aligning job training and education programs in the K-12 grades and post-secondary settings with needs in today's labor market and by obtaining an assessment on the length of time for the completion of these types of programs.

Additionally, your Committees determine that in order to ensure that the local workforce investment boards are adequately represented and that open communication exists, the chairpersons of the county workforce investment boards should be members of the WDC.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Including language to provide for the appropriation of funds for the entire 2005-2007 biennium;

(2) Changing the effective date of the Act to July 1, 2050 in order to facilitate further discussion on the matter; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Labor and Education and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1865, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1865, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Labor and Education and Military Affairs,

____________________________ NORMAN SAKAMOTO, Chair		____________________________ BRIAN KANNO, Chair