STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1220-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: S.B. No. 3175

S.D. 2

H.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred S.B. No. 3175, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FEDERAL SOCIAL SECURITY FOR PUBLIC EMPLOYEES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to:

(1) Allow approximately 30 employees of the East-West Center (Center) to receive Medicare benefits upon their retirement; and

(2) Provide that the Center will reimburse the appropriate agencies for costs incurred in implementing the provisions of this bill as they apply to the Center.

The Center submitted testimony in support of this measure with amendments. The Department of the Attorney General and Employees' Retirement System (ERS) offered comments with amendments.

Your Committee has amended this bill by:

(1) Replacing section 1 with language that allows the ERS to modify the State's existing Section 218 agreement with the federal government to provide Medicare-only coverage to Center employees;

(2) Replacing the phrase "political subdivision" with "Center" as it appears in this bill;

(3) Updating the title of the Secretary of Health and Human Services throughout part VI of chapter 88, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(4) Reinserting the word "Federal" into the title of the bill, because the word had been inadvertently deleted from the title due to a clerical error during the drafting of H.D. 1; and

(5) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendment for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3175, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3175, S.D. 2, H.D. 2.

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

 

____________________________

DWIGHT Y. TAKAMINE, Chair