STAND. COM. REP. NO. 70

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1383

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 1383 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII EMPLOYMENT SECURITY LAW,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Create the Unemployment Insurance Technology Special Fund (Special Fund) to fund the operating and maintenance costs of the information technology infrastructure for the Unemployment Insurance Program;

(2) Impose an additional assessment of .01 percent to Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund contributions to be deposited into the Special Fund; and

(3) Clarify the order of priority to apply collections from delinquent employers to delinquent amounts under Hawaii's Employment Security Law.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Your Committee finds that although federal funds are currently available for the infrastructure and equipment necessary to modernize the Unemployment Insurance Program, the costs of operating and maintaining the information technology systems are not covered by federal funds. According to oral testimony, the assessment proposed in this measure would generate $1,500,000 each year to defray existing and future operation and maintenance costs.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

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

(2) 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 and Technology that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1383, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1383, 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 and Technology,

________________________________

SHARON MORIWAKI, Chair