HB2024 HD1.DOC

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2024
TWENTY-SIXTH LEGISLATURE, 2012		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT SECURITY.

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

SECTION 1. (a) There is established, within the department of labor and industrial relations, a temporary program to be known as the self-employment assistance program. The self-employment assistance program shall be developed by the department of labor and industrial relations and approved by the director of labor and industrial relations.

(b) The self-employment assistance program shall include, but not be limited to, entrepreneurial training, business counseling, technical assistance, and requirements for participants to engage in activities relating to the establishment of a business and becoming self-employed.

(c) An unemployed individual shall be eligible to participate in the self-employment assistance program if it has been determined by the department of labor and industrial relations that the unemployed individual meets the following qualifications:

(1) The unemployed individual is eligible to receive unemployment benefits under chapter 383, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

(2) The unemployed individual has been identified as likely to exhaust unemployment benefits before finding employment.

(d) The department of labor and industrial relations shall identify, under rules adopted by the department pursuant to chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, unemployed individuals that are likely to exhaust regular benefits before finding employment and shall notify the identified unemployed individuals of the opportunity to enroll in the self-employment assistance program.

(e) Unemployed individuals participating in the self-employment assistance program shall be eligible to receive benefits under the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program; provided that:

(1) The requirements of chapter 383, Hawaii Revised Statutes, regarding being available for work, actively seeking work, or refusing to accept suitable work shall not apply to the unemployed individual; and

(2) An unemployed individual participating in self-employment assistance activities shall be considered to be unemployed.

(f) An unemployed individual participating in the self-employment assistance program who fails to participate in self-employment assistance activities or who fails, on a full-time basis, to actively engage in establishing a business and becoming self-employed shall be disqualified from participating in the self-employment assistance program.

(g) The director of labor and industrial relations shall take all steps necessary to carry out the purposes of the self-employment assistance program to assure collaborative involvement of interested parties in the development of the self-employment assistance program, and to ensure that the self-employment assistance programs meet all federal criteria for withdrawal under the federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program. The director of labor and industrial relations may approve, as self-employment assistance programs, existing self-employment training programs available through community colleges, workforce investment boards, or other organizations and is not obligated to expend any departmental funds for the operation of self-employment assistance programs unless specific funding is provided to the department of labor and industrial relations for that purpose through federal or state appropriations.

(h) An unemployed individual completing the self-employment assistance program may not directly compete with the unemployed individual's separating employer for a specific time period and in a specific geographic area as determined by the director of labor and industrial relations. The time period may not exceed one year. Both the time period and the geographic area must be reasonable, considering whether:

(1) Restraining the unemployed individual from performing services is necessary for the protection of the employer or the employer's goodwill;

(2) The agreement harms the unemployed individual more than is reasonably necessary to secure the employer's business or goodwill; and

(3) The loss of the unemployed individual's services and skills injures the public to a degree warranting nonenforcement of the agreement.

(i) The director of labor and industrial relations shall adopt rules in accordance with chapter 91, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to implement and carry out the purposes of the self-employment assistance program.

(j) As used in this Act, the term "unemployed individual" shall have the same meaning as used in Chapter 383, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

SECTION 2. This Act shall take effect on January 1, 2049, and shall be repealed on June 30, 2015.