HB2642.DOC

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that Alexander & Baldwin, Inc. recently announced that their sugar plantation operations in Hawaii are set to close at the end of 2016 and this year will be the last sugar harvest on its 36,000-acre plantation on Maui. The six hundred seventy-five people employed by its subsidiary, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company, will be laid off progressively starting in March as their responsibilities come to an end. The legislature further finds that the closure of the sugar industry, as well as the shutdown of Heald College, further wreaks havoc on the local economy. Such economic devastation is nothing new; within a span of one month beginning in March 2008, four large Hawaii companies (Molokai Ranch, Aloha Airlines, ATA airlines, and Weyerhaeuser Company) closed their doors, leaving 2,362 island employees jobless.

In response to the mass layoffs at Aloha Airlines, the department of labor and industrial relations created the State's rapid response team to address issues such as job readiness, training, medical benefits, public assistance and jobs search assistance to assist displaced workers.

The purpose of this Act is to implement a program of benefits similar to the rapid response program that was put into place to assist displaced employees of Aloha Airlines.

SECTION 2. Chapter 201, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding two new sections to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§201- Rapid Response Training. (a) There is

established the rapid response training program in the

department of business, economic development, and tourism. The

purpose of the program shall be to facilitate the development of

a rapid response training capacity in Hawaii that will be

capable of developing and delivering, for businesses and

industries, short-term customized training programs, which

cannot be provided in a timely fashion by existing training

programs.

(b) The program shall achieve its purpose by:

(1) Working with the workforce development community,

county economic development boards, business and

industry associations, and other appropriate

entities to identify and market rapid response

custom training to the business community;

(2) Contracting with firms requesting customized

training to provide for the development and delivery

of such training;

(3) Contracting with appropriate training providers for

the development of customized training programs; and

(4) Upon commencement of training delivery, collecting

fees from contracted firms for the training of their

current or prospective employees.

tourism shall contract for the development of custom training

programs with educational and training resources in the public

and private sectors throughout the State, as may be appropriate

to accomplish the purpose of the program.

(d) The rapid response training program shall place a

priority on developing training programs that provide high-skilled workers for jobs paying the median wage in new or expanding businesses, and for which the rapid development and

delivery of training is important to the decision of the firm or

industry to make the proposed business investment. The program

shall also place priority on business expansions that propose to

train or retrain workers who are unemployed or facing

unemployment due to mass-layoff events.

(e) The program shall develop measures of program

performance to assess the impact of the training provided under

the rapid response program on the supply of high skilled workers

in the economy and the impact on the development of sustained,

new business activity.

§201- Rapid response training revolving fund. (a)

There is established in the state treasury the rapid response

training revolving fund, into which shall be deposited:

(1) Appropriations by the legislature;

(2) Training fees paid by firms or other agencies and

organizations related to training services;

(3) Donations and contributions made by private individuals or organizations for deposit into the fund; and

(4) Grants or transfers of funds provided by governmental

agencies or any other source.

(b) Moneys in the rapid response training revolving fund

shall be used by the department:

(1) To contract with appropriate training providers for

the development of rapid response custom training programs; and

(2) For administrative expenses, including but not limited

to supplies, equipment, and services necessary for the

appropriate administration of the rapid response training program."

SECTION 3. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2016.

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2642
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016
STATE OF HAWAII