STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1566

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2015

RE:   S.B. No. 675

      S.D. 2

      H.D. 3

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred S.B. No. 675, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIREFIGHTERS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to improve medical coverage for firefighters by providing for comprehensive medical coverage through workers' compensation benefits by establishing a rebuttable presumption that a firefighter who suffers from cancer, a blood-born infectious disease, or exposure to biomedical substances, contracted the condition in the course of employment.

The Honolulu Fire Department, Hawaii Fire Department of the County of Hawaii, and Hawaii Fire Fighters Association testified in support of this measure.  The Department of Human Resources of the City and County of Honolulu and Hawaii Insurers Council testified in opposition to this measure.  The Department of the Attorney General, Department of Human Resources Development, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, and State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers provided comments on this measure.  

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2030; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 675, S.D. 2, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 675, S.D. 2, H.D. 3.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

____________________________

SYLVIA LUKE, Chair