STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3542

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2445

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 2445, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PUBLIC EMPLOYEES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to ensure that public employees whose positions are privatized remain eligible for the rights and benefits of membership in the Employees' Retirement System.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from Hawaii Government Employees Association.

Your Committee received written comments in opposition to this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance and the Board of Trustees of the Employees' Retirement System.

     Your Committee finds that this measure will ensure, to the extent possible, that a public employee whose position is privatized, and as a consequence of the privatization the employee's membership and eligibility for continued participation in the pension benefits provided by the Employees' Retirement System has terminated, will be entitled to receive future retirement benefits under the system commensurate with the prior contributions made by the employee or made on the employee's behalf.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by removing extraneous language with respect to a resolution submitted to the Board of Trustees of the Employees' Retirement System for the purposes of coverage determination.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2445, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2445, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair