STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1451

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.C.R. No. 16

       S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2017

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 16, S.D. 1, entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION CONVENING A LEGISLATIVE WORKING GROUP TO INVESTIGATE AND IDENTIFY STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE GREATER RETIREMENT SAVINGS FOR PRIVATE SECTOR EMPLOYEES IN HAWAII,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to convene a legislative retirement savings working group to investigate and identify strategies to promote greater retirement savings for private sector employees.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Policy Advisory Board for Elder Affairs, Maui County Office on Aging, AARP Hawaii, Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, Hawaii Family Caregiver Coalition, ILWU Local 142, and fifteen individuals.

     Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Legislative Reference Bureau, American Council of Life Insurers, and NAIFA Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that there is a looming retirement security crisis in Hawaii because many individuals are not part of an employer-sponsored retirement plan.  Approximately fifty per cent of Hawaii's private sector employees work for an employer that does not offer a retirement plan.  Also, employees of businesses with fewer than one hundred employees are much less likely to have access to a retirement plan than employees of larger businesses.  Individuals without a retirement plan are at a significant risk of not having sufficient retirement income to supplement Social Security income to meet basic expenses during their retirement years.  Accordingly, convening a legislative working group to study the feasibility and impact of establishing a retirement savings program for private sector employees who are without an employer-based retirement plan in the State is imperative.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by replacing Illinois with Utah as a state that has adopted a private marketplace plan that should be examined by the working group.

     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 concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 16, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 16, S.D. 2.

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

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair