STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2571

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2766

       S.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2766, S.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to clarify that the trust assets of the Employees' Retirement System are to be expended exclusively for the benefit of its members and their beneficiaries.

 

     Specifically, this measure specifies that benefits for a service-connected disability or accidental death be limited to members who are beneficiaries of the trust.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Employees' Retirement System.

 

     Your Committee finds in Stout v. Board of Trustees of the Employees' Retirement System, 140 Haw. 177, 398 P.3d 766 (2017), the Hawaii Supreme Court held that under certain circumstances, a person who sustains an injury while performing government service for which contributions to the Employees' Retirement System are not required could, nonetheless, qualify for Employees' Retirement System benefits.  Your Committee finds that this measure will clarify that claims for benefits related to service-connected disability and accidental death benefits are limited to members who are beneficiaries of the trust.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of style, clarity, and consistency.

 

     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 is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2766, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2766, S.D. 2.

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

________________________________

DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair