STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2017

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2289

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2289 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require employers to keep a record of the former physical addresses and current physical address of the employer and the North American Industry Classification System code applicable to the employer.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and Altres, Inc.

     Your Committee finds that federal funding levels for the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations are in jeopardy because the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics ties funding to the number of employing units reported and an increasing number of employers are not responding to surveys unless required to do so.  Implementation of this measure will allow the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to gather accurate data regarding employers, protecting federal funding levels.

     Your Committee further finds that even though existing law requires the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to collect, assemble, and furnish information pertaining to insurance plans, many of these requirements are now regulated by the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs' Insurance Division.  An amendment to this measure is therefore necessary to reflect the existing organizational structure pertaining to insurance plans.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting paragraph (4) of section 371-11, Hawaii Revised Statutes, pertaining to insurance plan information; and

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion.

     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 S.B. No. 2289, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2289, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

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GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair