STAND. COM. REP. NO 3040

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2217

       H.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 2217, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize and appropriate funds for the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to establish working groups to identify high growth industries and workforce needs and to develop training programs.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Farm Bureau and Chamber of Commerce Hawaii.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

     Your Committees find that Hawaii is the most geographically isolated archipelago in the world and has an economy that currently depends on very few and finite resources.  With an economy heavily dependent on the military and tourism, developing dependable industries that will stabilize and grow the economy is vital for the State's continued development.

     Your Committees further find that, to create conditions that would energize the development of new economic industries in Hawaii, a partnership consisting of educational and workforce and labor development sources would foster the private-sector confidence necessary for investors to consider developing new industries in Hawaii and ensure the hiring of residents who have been educated in these high-skill, high-wage industries.  Models of coordinated, sustained, and collaborative partnerships directed toward workforce development and training rely on working groups consisting of representatives of specific targeted industries, education, and the workforce community to help identify emerging workforce trends, determine skills required, and develop education and training to produce qualified workers with the necessary skills.  The relationships established through these working groups will be essential to leverage workforce development efforts within these partnerships.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2217, H.D. 2, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Economic Development, Government Operations and Housing and Judiciary and Labor,

____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair

____________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair