STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2805

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2491

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts, to which was referred S.B. No. 2491 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FAMILY LEAVE,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide family leave insurance benefits and extend the period of family leave to sixteen weeks for businesses that employ one or more employees who meet the hourly qualifications.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services; Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women; Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Early Childhood Action Strategy; Pono Hawaii Initiative; American Association of University Women of Hawaii; Americans for Democratic Action; Community Alliance on Prisons; Democratic Party of Hawaii Education Caucus; IMUAlliance; Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice; Hawaii Public Health Institute; Hawaii Children's Action Network; Midwives Alliance of Hawaii; American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; Democratic Party of Hawaii; International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142; Hawaii Children's Action Network; Hawaii Women's Coalition; American Civil Liberties of Hawaii; Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO; Hawaii State Teachers Association; Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii; LGBT Caucus of the Democratic Party of Hawaii; March of Dimes; Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii; and seven individuals.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from Meadow Gold Dairies, Maui Chamber of Commerce, Hawai'i Restaurant Association, Hawaii Food Industry Association, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, National Federation of Independent Business, Retail Merchants of Hawaii, Hawaii Credit Union League, and six individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from Hawaii Pacific Health, the Queen's Health Systems, Common Cause Hawaii, and one individual.

 

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii's working families are not adequately supported during times of caregiving and illness.  The majority of Hawaii's workforce cannot afford to take unpaid leave to care for a new child or attend to the needs of a family member with a serious health condition.  Hawaii law, which offers a modest four-week extension of unpaid leave, is available only to employees of large employers having more than one hundred employees.

 

     Your Committee further finds that most workers will need family leave at some point to care for family members, but very few can afford it.

 

     Your Committee advises that it is expecting to receive a draft resolution from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to propose the establishment of a paid family leave pilot program to initially assist state employees, and to evaluate the implementation needs if a paid family leave policy is applied by law to a broader group of employees.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing its effective date to July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2491, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2491, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor, Culture and the Arts,

 

 

 

________________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair