STAND. COM. REP. NO. 483

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: S.B. No. 425

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 425 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT SYSTEM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to allow the surviving spouse or surviving reciprocal beneficiary of a police officer, firefighter, deputy sheriff, or public safety officer to continue to receive the survivor death benefit, resulting from their former spouse's employment, upon remarriage, marriage, or entry into a new reciprocal beneficiary relationship.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Public Safety, the Honolulu Police Department, the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers, and Concerns of Police Survivors, Hawaii Chapter.

Comments on this measure were submitted by the Department of Budget and Finance, the Department of the Attorney General, and the Employees' Retirement System.

Your Committee finds that Hawaii's law enforcement and public safety officers are among the finest and bravest officers in the nation. Your Committee further finds that these individuals are only able to effectively protect and serve our communities with the support of their families. Due to the nature of their positions, law enforcement and public safety officers are exposed to considerable hazards, often work irregular hours, and are faced with a great deal of stress which can put a strain on their home life. Your Committee also determines that over the past several years, approximately thirty-seven public employee deaths have occurred while on the job, including sixteen police officers and firefighters and twenty-one public employees from all other areas.

Furthermore, your Committee determines that the sacrifices of not only the public employees in potentially hazardous positions or situations, but also the families, should not go unrecognized. Upon the death of any public employee killed in the line of duty, the family is faced with numerous difficulties, with the main objective being to continue to move on with their lives, especially when there are surviving minor children. Therefore, the surviving spouse or surviving reciprocal beneficiary should not be stripped of the deceased public employee's retirement benefits due to remarriage, marriage, or entry into a new reciprocal beneficiary relationship.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Expanding its applicability to any ERS member who is killed in the performance of the member's duty;

(2) Excluding benefits paid under part VIII of chapter 88 from section 88-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(3) Deleting the definitions for deputy sheriff and public safety officer; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity 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. 425, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 425, 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