STAND.
COM. REP. NO. 1324
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2025
RE: S.B. No. 716
S.D. 2
H.D. 1
Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura
Speaker, House of Representatives
Thirty-Third State Legislature
Regular Session of 2025
State of Hawaii
Madame:
Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 716, S.D. 2, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HAWAII EMPLOYMENT SECURITY LAW,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to:
(1) Repeal the statutory definitions of "registered for work" or "registration for work";
(2) Authorize the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to allow individuals to report to a location other than an employment office, in accordance with its own rules;
(3) Expand eligibility requirements for unemployment benefits;
(4) Require electronic notifications of determinations or redeterminations of unemployment claims, unless the claimant elects to be notified by mail;
(5) Remove language that limits an individual's ability to change a previously elected withholding status only once during a benefit year; and
(6) Repeal the statutory requirement to post work availability online.
Your Committee finds that the State's unemployment system as it relates to certain requirements is inefficient and limiting for individuals who are already facing difficult circumstances. Your Committee also finds that modernizing the system can greatly improve the communication between the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and unemployed individuals who are using the system for unemployment benefits. This measure supports unemployed individuals by expanding the qualifications to receive certain unemployment benefits and improves the overall communication between the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and individuals by including electronic methods of notification.
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Amending the definition of "registered for work" or "registration for work" rather than repealing it and restoring references to the definition;
(2) Repealing the joint experience rating provision, which allows employers to combine accounts to be constituted as a single employer's account as it relates to contribution rates;
(3) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and
(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 716, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 716, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor,
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____________________________ JACKSON D. SAYAMA, Chair |
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