SB1950 SD1

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	1950
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to the re-employment of retirees.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. As received by the Committee, the purpose of this Act is to allow state and county governments to rehire retired employees as permanent workers in critical-to-fill or labor shortage positions, without the retirees incurring any negative impact on their normal retirement benefits.

Since hearing this Act, the following facts were brought to our attention. As of September 30, 2006, an estimated 10% of our state public employees are eligible to retire and by fiscal year 2011 the figure is anticipated to rise to 26%. As the "Baby Boomers" begin to retire, the vacancies will continue to increase. It is estimated that by the year 2011, one out of every four residents in our State will be over 65 years old. Based on these statistics, it is imperative that our State and county governments address this vacancy issue. Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that this measure is a temporary stop-gap measure to allow the State and county governments to develop plans to address filling these vacancies by Hawai‘i's youth.

SECTION 2. Chapter 88, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§88- Re-employment of state and county retirants. (a) Appointing authorities in the state and the various counties may employ a retired state or county employee, who is receiving retirement benefits under this chapter, as designated by the human resources director of the appropriate jurisdictions. Each jurisdiction shall make employer contributions on the rehired employee's compensation to the pension accumulation fund in accordance with Section 88-122(e). If the position is a civil service position, then a retirant subject to this section shall be recruited and selected for the position following civil service procedures. To qualify for full-time employment, the retirant shall have been retired from a State or county position for at least five consecutive calendar years from the employee's date of retirement. The human resources director of the appropriate jurisdiction, shall certify that the retiree was hired in accordance with applicable civil service laws and as provided herein.

(b) Sections 88-21, 88-42.5, 88-43, 88-45, 88-46, 88-98, 88-273, 88-235, 88-326. and 88-344, and any other law to the contrary notwithstanding, a retired state or county employee who is hired by the state or a county under this section:

(1) Shall not earn retirement service credit, contribute to the system, or gain additional system benefits as a result of the retirant's subsequent employment with the State or a county;

(2) Shall continue to receive the employee's normal retirement benefits without penalty and medical retirement benefits; and

(3) Shall join the collective bargaining unit of any included position.

(c) This section shall not preclude a retirant from returning to work and relinquishing the employee's retirement benefits to earn additional service credit and gain additional retirement benefits for a future retirement date as may be allowed by this chapter.

(d) For the purposes of this section:

"Jurisdiction" means the city and county of Honolulu, the county of Hawai‘i, the county of Maui, the county of Kaua‘i, the department of education, the judiciary, the Hawai‘i health systems corporation, the office of Hawaiian affairs, state executive branch, and the legislative branches of the State and county governments.

"State executive branch" means all the departments of the State executive branch of government except the university of Hawai‘i, the Hawai‘i health systems corporation and the department of education."

SECTION 3. Each jurisdiction utilizing the provisions in Section 2 of this Act shall report annually to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the legislature on the number of positions filled pursuant to this Act to include, but not be limited to, job title, salary and the length of time each retirant was hired and other pertinent information.

SECTION 4. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2007 and shall be repealed on June 30, 2012.