STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2420

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2006

RE: S.B. No. 2021

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 2021 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE EMPLOYER-UNION HEALTH BENEFITS TRUST FUND,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to allow a retiree who relocates outside the coverage of the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust fund (EUTF) to be reimbursed for payment for coverage under a personal health insurance policy.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Budget and Finance and the Hawaii State Teachers Association. Comments on the measure were also submitted by the EUTF.

Your Committee finds that public employees who have retired from service and are entitled to health benefits coverage under the law should not be deprived of continued coverage because they relocate beyond the EUTF's current coverage area. These retired employees provided years of service to our government and should benefit from their hard work through the continued provision of health care coverage regardless of their physical location. According to the EUTF, only a small number of retired members of the EUTF reside in areas that may be beyond the EUTF's coverage. These members must enroll in alternate health coverage plans, which often requires the payment of high premiums.

Therefore, your Committee determines that in the interest of equity and fairness, reimbursement should be made for health benefits coverage for retired individuals who reside beyond the coverage of the EUTF. Your Committee also determines that the reimbursement should be more closely tied to the actual amount of the personal health policy or the most comparable plan under the EUTF.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requiring reimbursement of the lesser amount of the actual amount of the personal health insurance policy or the amount of the state or county contribution for the most comparable health benefits plan; and

(2) Changing the effective date of the Act to July 1, 2007, to allow the EUTF adequate time to comply with the law.

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. 2021, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2021, 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