STAND. COM. REP. NO.  992-08

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2008

RE:   H.B. No. 2479

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 2479, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WORKERS' COMPENSATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to expand eligibility for vocational rehabilitation to a worker who has otherwise been deemed unable to return to the worker's original position where the employer has made no offer of suitable work that would restore the worker's earnings capacity as nearly as possible to the level that the worker was earning at the time of the work-related injury.

     The Department of Human Resources Development and Department of Labor and Industrial Relations opposed this bill.  The ILWU Local 142 submitted comments.

     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. 2479, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

____________________________

MARCUS R. OSHIRO, Chair