STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1159-16

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2016

RE:   S.B. No. 3036

      S.D. 1

      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 S.B. No. 3036, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to clarify the State's anti-discrimination law by specifying that an employer may refuse to hire or refer, or discharge an individual for reasons relating to the ability of the individual to perform the work in question; provided that the employment policy is applied in a nondiscriminatory manner and unrelated to discriminatory practices, equal pay, criminal conviction records, or credit history.

The Hawaii Civil Rights Commission opposed this measure.  The Chamber of Commerce Hawaii provided comments.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by replacing its contents with H.B. No. 2209 H.D. 1, a similar measure that was passed out of this Committee earlier this session and specifies that employers, employment agencies, and labor organizations may refuse to hire, refer, or discharge workers for reasons other than those protected under Hawaii's anti-discrimination law.

     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 S.B. No. 3036, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3036, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

____________________________

MARK M. NAKASHIMA, Chair