STAND. COM. REP. NO.  109

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

RE:   H.B. No. 720

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Economic Revitalization, Business, & Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 720 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO family leave,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to support the family members of persons on or called to active military deployment by allowing an employee to use family leave to address family care, legal, and financial issues directly related to their family member's deployment.

     The Department of Defense supported this bill.  The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Retail Merchants of Hawaii, and Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii supported the intent of this bill.  Testimony opposing this bill was received from the National Federation of Independent Businesses in Hawaii.

     Your Committee has amended this bill to align its family leave coverage with that available under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act to family members of persons in the National Guard or Reserves, or of persons who are retired military service members called to active duty.

     As amended, a family member of any person called to, or on active duty, is entitled to use family leave for "any qualifying exigency" which is defined by federal regulation to include activities such as military events, childcare and school activities, and counseling.

     Your Committee changed the effective date of this measure to December 21, 2012.  Due to the scheduled national removal of the military from Iraq in 2012 and an expectation of less deployment, your Committee expects that there will be fewer requests for military family leave at that time.  In addition, it is also projected that by December, 2012, the economy will have grown and stabilized.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Economic Revitalization, Business, & Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 720, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 720, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Labor and Public Employment.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Economic Revitalization, Business, & Military Affairs,

____________________________

ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair