STAND. COM. REP. NO. 640

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: H.B. No. 1100
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Labor and Public Employment, to which was
referred H.B. No. 1100 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN
     INCUMBENT WORKER JOB TRAINING PROGRAM FOR GROWTH
     INDUSTRIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to appropriate $1,000,000 to
create an incumbent worker training program, to be called the
Millennium Workforce Training Initiative.

     The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations and the
Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism
testified in support of this measure.

     Your Committee finds that employee skills are an important
and integral part of kick-starting Hawaii's economy.  According
to the U.S. Department of Labor, the fastest-growing jobs over
the next 10 years are projected to be in the fields of:

     (1)  Biotechnology;

     (2)  Health care;

     (3)  Information technology; and

     (4)  Telecommunications.


 
 
                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 640
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Hawaii certainly has the ability to attract these types of
businesses with its geographical position in the Pacific.
However, local employee skills have not kept pace with the needs
of the workplace and have arguably been keeping those industries
and capital from locating here.

     Your Committee further finds that currently there are no
publicly-funded training program which targets the training needs
of existing employees who want to work in these emerging
industries.  This measure provides funds and opportunities for
Hawaii's workforce to gain the necessary skills to attract those
emerging and high growth industries. 

     Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this
measure by:

     (1)  Changing the appropriation to $1 for discussion
          purposes; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive changes for purposes
          of style, clarity, and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Labor and Public Employment that is attached to this
report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose
of H.B. No. 1100, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass
Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1100, H.D.
1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Labor and Public
                                   Employment,



                                   ______________________________
                                   TERRY NUI YOSHINAGA, Chair