STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1216

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2011

RE:   S.B. No. 1088

      S.D. 1

      H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Labor & Public Employment and Economic Revitalization & Business, to which was referred S.B. No. 1088, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE BENEFITS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to:

(1)  Remove the eight-week limitation in which an individual may receive partial unemployment benefits;

(2)  Repeal the June 30, 2012, sunset date of provisions related to partial unemployment benefits;

(3)  Require, rather than make discretionary, the waiver of registration and work search requirements for individuals who are partially unemployed; and

(4)  Establish the conditions in which an individual shall not be disqualified for benefits for any week in which the individual separates involuntarily or voluntarily, with or without good cause, from a secondary employer offering part-time employment.

     The Hawaii Government Employees Association, ILWU Local 142, and a concerned individual testified in support of this bill.  The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii and the General Contractors Association of Hawaii testified in opposition to this measure.  The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations submitted comments.

     Upon consideration, your Committees have amended this bill by:

(1)  Deleting the provision that specifies conditions in which an individual shall not be disqualified for benefits for any week in which the individual separates involuntarily or voluntarily, with or without good cause, from a secondary employer offering part-time employment;

(2)  Eliminating from the definition "attached to a regular employer" under section 383-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, the condition of an employee having a reasonably imminent return to work date with the employee's regular employer;

(3)  Establishing conditions in which an individual who has established eligibility based on full-time employment may be found to have good cause for voluntarily separating from subsequent part-time employment; and

(4)  Changing its effective date from July 1, 2050, to July 1, 2011.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Labor & Public Employment and Economic Revitalization & Business that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1088, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1088, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Labor & Public Employment and Economic Revitalization & Business,

____________________________ ANGUS L.K. McKELVEY, Chair

____________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair