STAND. COM. REP. NO.  921

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2015

 

RE:   S.B. No. 675

      S.D. 2

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred S.B. No. 675, S.D. 2, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FIREFIGHTERS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to improve medical coverage for firefighters by:

 

     (1)  Providing firefighters with comprehensive medical coverage through workers' compensation benefits by establishing a rebuttable presumption that a firefighter who suffers from cancer, a blood-borne infectious disease, or exposure to biomedical substances, contracted the condition in the course of employment; and

 

     (2)  Requiring the State Fire Council to develop standards and procedures to ensure the health and safety of firefighters and first responders who are or may be exposed to hazardous materials or situations in the course of their employment.

 

     The Fire Fighter Cancer Support Network; Honolulu Fire Department; and the Hawaii Fire Fighters Association, Local 1463, AFL-CIO submitted testimony in support.  The Hawaii Insurers Council submitted testimony in opposition.  The Department of Human Resources Development; Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; Hawaii State Fire Council; City and County of Honolulu; and the State of Hawaii Organization of Police Officers submitted comments.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Removing the provisions that required the State Fire Council to develop minimum standards and procedures to ensure the health and safety of firefighters and first responders who are or may be exposed to hazardous materials or situations in the course of their employment; and

 

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2115, to encourage further discussion.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 675, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 675, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor & Public Employment,

 

 

 

 

____________________________

MARK M. NAKASHIMA, Chair