STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2935

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2099

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 2099, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to deter frivolous workers' compensation claims and appeals from being filed by allowing attorney's fees to be included in the costs that may be assessed against a party who brings, prosecutes, or defends a workers' compensation claim without reasonable grounds.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142, and five private individuals.  The Hawaii Insurers Council submitted comments.

     Your Committee finds that existing law permits the whole costs of a workers' compensation proceeding to be assessed against the party who brought, prosecuted, or defended the proceeding without reasonable grounds.  This measure clarifies that in addition to whole costs, reasonable attorney's fees may also be assessed against the party who brought, prosecuted, or defended the proceeding without reasonable grounds.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the effective date from July 1, 2112, to July 1, 2050; and

     (2)  Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary and Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2099, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2099, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________

CLAYTON HEE, Chair