STAND. COM. REP. NO. 573

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: H.B. No. 1202

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor & Government Operations, to which was referred H.B. No. 1202 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PAID SICK LEAVE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require employers to provide a minimum amount of paid sick leave to employees and supplemental paid sick leave to employees under certain public health emergency conditions.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Rainbow Family 808, Chamber of Sustainable Commerce, Hawai‘i Children's Action Network Speaks!, and ten individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawai‘i Restaurant Association, Hawaii Food Manufacturers Association, Retail Merchants of Hawaii, and The Chamber of Commerce Hawaii. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Department of Human Resources of the City and County of Honolulu, Subcontractors Association of Hawaii, Hawai‘i Nurses' Association, Democratic Party of Hawaii Labor Caucus, Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law & Economic Justice, Imua Alliance, Democratic Party of Hawai‘i Education Caucus, Hawai‘i Workers Center, Hawaii Credit Union League, and eight individuals.

Your Committee finds that passage of this measure will encourage employees to take care of their health and stay home from work when sick and provide for greater stability in the workforce.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Excluding all individuals employed in the public sector from the definition of "employee", making this measure inapplicable to public sector employees;

(2) Prohibiting paid sick leave from being used in conjunction with benefits afforded by temporary disability insurance or workers' compensation;

(3) Lowering the threshold for accrual of paid sick leave from more than two hundred hours worked in a year to more than eighty hours worked in a year;

(4) Increasing the accrual rate from a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave for every forty hours worked to a minimum of one hour of paid sick leave for every thirty hours worked;

(5) Eliminating lower paid leave requirements for small businesses;

(6) Changing the effective date to June 30, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

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

Your Committee respectfully requests your Committee on Finance, should it deliberate on this measure, to consider the extent to which small businesses may be negatively impacted by this measure.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1202, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1202, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor & Government Operations,

____________________________

SCOT Z. MATAYOSHI, Chair