STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1340

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1343

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts, to which was referred H.B. No. 1343, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FAMILY LEAVE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to extend Hawaii family leave to include care for grandchildren.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services; Hawai‘i State Commission on the Status of Women; American Association of University Women of Hawaii; Hawaii Children's Action Network; PHOCUSED; Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO; ILWU Local 142; and O‘ahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Retail Merchants of Hawaii, and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Your Committee recognizes that Hawaii ranks first in the nation for multigenerational families and that there is a growing trend of grandparents acting as primary caregivers for their grandchildren. There are approximately forty-seven thousand children under eighteen years of age that live in homes with grandparents in Hawaii. Approximately twelve thousand five hundred grandparents are responsible for their grandchildren, with sixty percent of them currently in the workforce. Your Committee finds that under existing family leave law, grandparents are not allowed to take leave to care for their grandchildren. This measure will provide grandparents with family leave, which will allow grandparents acting as primary caregivers to tend to the needs and betterment of their family members.

Your Committee notes the concerns of testifiers that this measure will add a costly mandate to business owners and stifle business growth, job creation, and economic stability in Hawaii.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Specifying that grandparents are entitled to a total of one week of family leave during any calendar year;

(2) Changing the effective date to upon approval; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1343, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1343, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts,

________________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair