STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1171

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 423

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor and Technology, to which was referred H.B. No. 423, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WORKERS' COMPENSATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Clarify the process for selecting a certified provider of rehabilitation services; and

(2) Require providers to automatically approve vocational rehabilitation services for an injured employee if those services will likely be required for suitable gainful employment.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Resources Development, Hawaii Insurers Council, and Hawaii Medical Association.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Your Committee finds that timely medical care, including vocational rehabilitation services, following a workplace injury is critical to expediting recovery timelines and maximizing the probability of a successful, full recovery and return to gainful employment for injured employees. Many rehabilitation services are time-sensitive, with an injured employee's probability of making a full recovery decreasing as time passes from the initial injury. Automatically approving vocational rehabilitation services in certain circumstances will preempt unnecessary delays, protecting the State's workforce. This measure will therefore positively impact the broader economy by streamlining the procedures to aide and rehabilitate injured employees under the State's workers' compensation law.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language that establishes a ninety-day deadline for a provider to file an employee's vocational plan after submitting an initial evaluation report, with certain exceptions;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; 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 and Technology that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 423, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 423, H.D. 2, 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,

________________________________

HENRY J.C. AQUINO, Chair