STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1108

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 1010

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, Transportation, and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 1010, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE COMMUTER BENEFITS PROGRAM,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize each county to adopt an ordinance establishing a commuter benefits program that requires employers to offer employees specified commuter benefits options.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation; Department of Transportation Services of the City and County of Honolulu; Office of Economic Development of the City and County of Kauai; Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO; Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii; Blue Planet Foundation; Ulupono Initiative; Hawaii Energy Policy Forum; Kohala Center; Hawaii Bicycling League; and three individuals.  Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Resources Development, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, and one individual.

 

     Your Committees find that employer-provided commuter benefits allow employees to reduce their transportation costs through the use of pre-tax dollars to pay for their commuting expenses.  Commuter benefits programs encourage employees to use certain modes of travel as an alternative to single-occupancy vehicles, promoting the reduction of traffic congestion, greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and reliance on fossil fuel.  Implementation of this measure will enhance the quality of life of the State's commuters and further the State's clean energy goals.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, Transportation, and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1010, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1010, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, Transportation, and Judiciary and Labor,

 

________________________________

CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair

 

________________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair

 

 

________________________________

GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair