CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REP. NO. 36
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2009
RE: H.B. No. 982
H.D. 3
S.D. 1
C.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Fifth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2009
State of Hawaii
Honorable Colleen Hanabusa
President of the Senate
Twenty-Fifth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2009
State of Hawaii
Sir and Madam:
Your Committee on Conference on the disagreeing vote of the House of Representatives to the amendments proposed by the Senate in H.B. No. 982, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FAMILY LEAVE,"
having met, and after full and free discussion, has agreed to recommend and does recommend to the respective Houses the final passage of this bill in an amended form.
The purpose of this bill is to gather information about and to assist employees who provide family caregiving services by establishing a web-based, family leave data collection system to gather and analyze family caregiving data for public and private-sector employees, which will be used for the future development and implementation of an efficient state family leave system.
With Hawaii's aging population, more and more adults need some kind of help in caring for themselves. Oftentimes, this caregiving need is met by younger family members who are currently employed and necessitates the use of family leave for these caregiving purposes.
Your Committee on Conference finds that the Legislature noted the difficult situation family caregivers faced when it enacted Act 243, Session Laws of Hawaii 2008 (Act 243). Act 243 established a family leave working group to explore the provision of wage replacement benefits to employees who needed to take time off from work to care for a family member with a serious health condition. Although the working group met a number of times to discuss this issue, they were unable to reach a consensus as to what to do about this problem, due in part to a lack of data with which to develop estimates of the number of participants in a paid leave program and the potential costs of such a program. The data-collection system proposed in this measure should provide needed information for policymakers to make an informed decision on this subject.
Your Committee on Conference has amended this bill by:
(1) Authorizing the use of Disability Benefits Special Fund monies for the establishment of a family leave data collection system;
(2) Inserting an appropriation of $10,000;
(3) Changing its effective date to July 1, 2009; and
(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the managers of your Committee on Conference that is attached to this report, your Committee on Conference is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 982, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Final Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 982, H.D. 3, S.D. 1, C.D. 1.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the managers:
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ON THE PART OF THE SENATE |
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ON THE PART OF THE HOUSE |
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____________________________ DWIGHT Y. TAKAMINE, Chair |
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______________________________ KARL RHOADS, Co-Chair |
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____________________________ SHAN S. TSUTSUI, Co-Chair |
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______________________________ JERRY L. CHANG, Co-Chair |
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______________________________ JAMES KUNANE TOKIOKA, Co-Chair |
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______________________________ MARILYN B. LEE, Co-Chair |