STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2385

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2006

RE: S.B. No. 3020

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Labor and Intergovernmental Affairs, to which was referred S.B. No. 3020 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH INSURANCE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to allow part-time, temporary, and seasonal or casual employees of the State, who do not already have health insurance coverage, to be eligible for health insurance benefits under the Hawaii employer-union health benefits trust.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Hawaii State Teachers Association and the ILWU Local 142. Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Department of Budget and Finance. Comments on this measure were also submitted by the Department of the Attorney General, the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund (EUTF), and the Hawaii Uninsured Project.

Your Committees find that, according to the University of Hawaii Social Science Research Institute, approximately 6,000 civilian government employees in Hawaii are without health insurance. Many of these public employees are without health insurance due to their employment status as part-time or temporary employees. Under the current law, the state and county governments are exempt from the Prepaid Health Care Act. As a result, the State or a county need not provide health insurance coverage to its temporary or part-time employees. Part-time or temporary public employees are also specifically excluded from coverage under the EUTF.

Your Committees further find that current labor shortages and the need for individuals who are specially trained has necessitated the utilization of an increased number of 89-day hires, as well as part-time employees, leaving a number of public employees without health insurance coverage. Your Committees believe that in an attempt to address the problem of the increasing number of uninsured individuals in the State, the State and counties should lead by example by offering health insurance benefits to their temporary and part-time employees.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the definition of "part-time, temporary, and seasonal or casual employee" to clarify that the definition includes both employees who work for less than a three-month period and employees who work less than twenty hours per week, rather than those who do both; and

(2) Changing the effective date of the Act to July 1, 2050, to allow further discussion on this matter until a time certain can be determined as to when the EUTF can be prepared to implement the law.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Labor and Intergovernmental Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3020, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3020, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Labor and Intergovernmental Affairs,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair

____________________________

BRIAN KANNO, Chair