STAND. COM. REP. 3015

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 1792

H.D. 2

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 1792, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO LABOR,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to conform statutory provisions to Public Law 107-147, the Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2002, by eliminating the time limitations and restrictions on the use of Reed Act funds received in 2002.

This measure also appropriates funds for unemployment compensation and to supplant general fund appropriations for general administration.

Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Your Committee finds that Public Law 107-147, 116 Stat. 21, the Temporary Extended Compensation Act of 2002 (TEUC), provided for the expanded utilization of Reed Act funds for the payment of unemployment benefits or for the administration of state unemployment compensation law and public employment offices. Therefore, in addition to administrative funds provided to finance delivery of up to twenty-six weeks of temporary extended benefits under the TEUC, a state is also authorized to use transferred Reed Act funds for the administration of unemployment compensation law and public employment offices when the purposes and amounts are specified in the state law making the appropriation; the expenses are incurred after the date of enactment of the appropriation; the appropriation limits the obligations to the amounts available; and the money is accounted for. Your Committee determines that changes in the current statutory scheme are, therefore, necessary to allow for the use of Reed Act funds to the fullest extent provided under federal law, and that the appropriation of such funds will thereafter be proper.

Although no sums have been appropriated or authorized from the sources of funding indicated in this measure, the measure should continue to advance in the Legislature as a vehicle for utilizing federal funds for administrative purposes, as provided by law. Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date of the Act to July 1, 2050 to allow for the determination of proper appropriation amounts and for purposes of facilitating further discussion on the issue.

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 H.B. No. 1792, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1792, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor,

____________________________

BRIAN KANNO, Chair