STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2373

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2711

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Labor, Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 2711 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EDUCATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to update the list of exceptions under state child labor laws to include work-based learning programs with employers.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, HawaiiKidsCAN, and one individual. Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Your Committees find that the career readiness of Hawaii's students is of the utmost importance, both for the economic stability of these individuals and the State more broadly. Hawaii's schools have made great progress in recent years to expand opportunities for students to engage in work-based learning, in which students gain technical knowledge and skills that align with particular industries.

Your Committees further find that employer-school partnerships are a vital and powerful tool for creating authentic learning experiences for students. Students in the State benefit from a deep pool of work-based learning partnerships and employers to choose from in order to pursue their interests most effectively.

Your Committees therefore find that this measure will benefit students, schools, and employers by providing greater clarity as to the status of students working in an intern capacity. Your Committees note, however, the testimony of the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations expressing concern regarding the wholesale exemption of student interns from child labor laws.

Accordingly, your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting section 2, which added certain exceptions under 390-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(2) Defining youth vocational training programs and internships in section 390-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(3) Adding youth vocational training programs and internships and certain programs as allowable employment under section 390-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(4) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

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

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Labor, Culture and the Arts that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2711, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2711, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

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

________________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair

________________________________ MICHELLE N. KIDANI, Chair