STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3426

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2377

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 2377, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WORKERS' COMPENSATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish training options as part of vocational rehabilitation for injured employees when training for employment in another occupational field is required for the employee and as part of the employee's rehabilitation plan; and

(2) Provide that all professional and clerical employees of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations Rehabilitation Unit are to be administered by the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, City and County of Honolulu Department of Human Resources, and ILWU Local 142.

Your Committee finds that one of the Hawaii Workers' Compensation Law's primary purposes for vocational rehabilitation is to "return the injured worker to suitable gainful employment in the active labor force as quickly as possible in a cost-effective manner." Injured employees who are no longer able to return to the employment during which the injury occurred may need additional vocational rehabilitation services to return to the workforce under different employment. This measure focuses vocational rehabilitation services on returning the injured worker back to suitable gainful employment by prioritizing the minimum amount of training required for the injured employee's employment goal, particularly on-the-job-training, which often results in employment with the employer who provides the training.

Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date to upon its approval.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2377, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2377, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair