STAND. COM. REP. NO.  469-16

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2016

 

RE:   H.B. No. 2122

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred H.B. No. 2122 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT SECURITY,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to enhance employment security by doubling the maximum potential unemployment benefits for employees separated from service on or after a particular date.

 

     The ILWU Local 142 testified in support of this measure.  The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, the Building Industry Association of Hawaii, and the Hawaii Restaurant Association testified in opposition.

 

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Decreasing the maximum potential period of eligibility for unemployment benefits from fifty-two to thirty-nine weeks;

 

     (2)  Requiring that eligible individuals terminated or laid off by Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company complete a training or retraining program to receive the maximum potential unemployment benefits; and

 

     (3)  Specifying a separation date of on or after March 7, 2016 as a condition of eligibility for the increased benefit period.

     Your Committee notes that concerns were raised regarding the specific inclusion of employment training or retraining requirements applicable only to Hawaiian Commercial and Sugar Company workers.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2122, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2122, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

 

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor & Public Employment,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

MARK M. NAKASHIMA, Chair