REPORT TITLE:
Public Employees Health Fund

DESCRIPTION:
Allows the Public Employees Health Fund (PEHF) to return the
employees' share of insurance carrier refunds to beneficiaries
based on their years of benefit plan participation.  Enables
certain spouses of deceased members of PEHF who were vested
contributory members of ERS to obtain health benefits.  (SD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        2445
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           S.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO THE PUBLIC EMPLOYEES HEALTH FUND.
 


BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Section 87-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 2 amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
 
 3      "(a)  The fund shall be used for the purpose of providing
 
 4 employee-beneficiaries and dependent-beneficiaries with a health
 
 5 benefits plan and a long-term care benefits plan; provided that
 
 6 the fund, including rate credits or reimbursements from any
 
 7 carrier or self-insured plan or any earning or interest derived
 
 8 therefrom, may be used to stabilize health benefits plan or long-
 
 9 term care benefits plan rates, and with approval of the
 
10 legislature through appropriation of funds for other expenses
 
11 necessary to effectuate these purposes.  Notwithstanding any law
 
12 to the contrary, any rate credit or reimbursement from any
 
13 carrier or self-insured plan in excess of funds used to stabilize
 
14 health benefits plan or long-term care benefits plan costs, and
 
15 for other expenses authorized by the legislature or any earning
 
16 or interest derived therefrom [shall]: 
 
17      (1)  Shall be returned to the State or the county for
 
18           deposit into the appropriate general fund if the moneys
 
19           are returned from:
 

 
Page 2                                                     2445
                                     H.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                            
                                                        


 1     [(1)] (A)  A plan that provides health benefits to retirees
 
 2                or the surviving spouses of deceased retirees or
 
 3                employees killed in the performance of their duty
 
 4                whose coverage is financed in whole or in part by
 
 5                the State or by the county; or
 
 6     [(2)] (B)  A plan that provides health benefits to employees;
 
 7                provided that the amount returned to the general
 
 8                fund shall be only that portion financed by the
 
 9                State or by the county on behalf of the
 
10                employee[.]; and
 
11      (2)  As authorized by the board, may be returned to
 
12           identifiable employee-beneficiaries who participated in
 
13           ascertainable years to create the rate credit or
 
14           reimbursement or to any other employee-beneficiaries,
 
15           or may be used to reduce the employee-beneficiary's
 
16           respective share of monthly contributions to a health
 
17           benefits plan; provided that the amount was derived
 
18           from employee-beneficiary rate contributions to health
 
19           benefit plans of employee-beneficiaries who are not
 
20           participating in a health benefits plan of an employee
 
21           organization, or interest derived therefrom."
 
22      SECTION 2.  Section 87-22.3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
23 amended to read as follows:
 

 
Page 3                                                     2445
                                     H.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                            
                                                        


 1      "§87-22.3  Determination of health benefits plans.  Pursuant
 
 2 to section 87-4, the board of trustees shall provide health
 
 3 benefits to employee-beneficiaries in the following manner:
 
 4      (1)  For those employee-beneficiaries who are not
 
 5           participating in a health benefits plan of an emp1oyee
 
 6           organization (hereafter "nonparticipating emp1oyee-
 
 7           beneficiaries"), the board of trustees shall establish
 
 8           health benefits plans and the requirements for
 
 9           eligibi1ity under the health benefits p1ans[.  Any rate
 
10           credit or reimbursement from any carrier derived from
 
11           employee-beneficiary rate contributions to health
 
12           benefits plans of nonparticipating employee-
 
13           beneficiaries or interest derived therefrom may be used
 
14           to improve the respective hea1th benefits plans of
 
15           nonparticipating employee-beneficiaries or to reduce
 
16           the emp1oyee-beneficiary's respective share of monthly
 
17           contributions to a health plan]; or
 
18      (2)  For employee-beneficiaries who participate in the
 
19           health benefits plan of an employee organization, the
 
20           board of trustees shal1 pay a monthly contribution for
 
21           each employee-beneficiary, in the amount provided in
 
22           section 87-4(a), or the actual month1y cost of the
 
23           coverage, whichever is less, towards the purchase of
 

 
Page 4                                                     2445
                                     H.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                            
                                                        


 1           health benefits under the health benefits plan of an
 
 2           employee organization."
 
 3      SECTION  3.  Section 87-25, hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
 4 amended to read as follows:
 
 5      "§87-25  Determine eligibility of employee, dependent, or
 
 6 person.  The board of trustees shall establish and adopt
 
 7 eligibility requirements to determine which employee, dependent,
 
 8 or person may qualify as an employee-beneficiary, dependent-
 
 9 beneficiary, or qualified-beneficiary, respectively, provided
 
10 that a retired member of the employees' retirement system, a
 
11 county pension system, or a police, firefighters, and bandsmen
 
12 pension system of the State or county, or the retired member's
 
13 dependent shall be eligible to qualify as an employee-beneficiary
 
14 or dependent-beneficiary, whether or not the retired member was
 
15 actively employed by the State or county at the time of the
 
16 retired member's retirement and whether or not the employee
 
17 retired before or after the establishing of the public employees
 
18 health fund.  Employees who retired prior to the establishing of
 
19 the health fund shall be treated as if they were members of the
 
20 system during their period of employment with the State or county
 
21 and receive the same benefits as other members.  Only an
 
22 employee-beneficiary or dependent or person satisfying the
 
23 eligibility requirements may qualify as an employee-beneficiary,
 

 
Page 5                                                     2445
                                     H.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                            
                                                        


 1 dependent-beneficiary, or qualified-beneficiary[.]; provided that
 
 2 the spouse of an employee-beneficiary who died after June 1,
 
 3 1996, but prior to filing a formal application to retire from
 
 4 active service and who was a vested contributory member of the
 
 5 employees' retirement system, shall be eligible for the health
 
 6 benefits normally provided to the spouse of the employee-
 
 7 beneficiary as if the employee-beneficiary retired the day prior
 
 8 to death."
 
 9      SECTION 4.  Section 87-28, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
10 amended to read as follows:
 
11      "§87-28  Other powers.  In addition to the power to
 
12 administer the fund, the board of trustees may:
 
13      (1)  Collect, receive, deposit, withdraw, and invest money
 
14           on behalf of the fund;
 
15      (2)  Appoint an administrator and staff necessary to carry
 
16           out this chapter, subject to the limitations of
 
17           available appropriations and chapters 76 and 77 and
 
18           section 78-1;
 
19      (3)  Make payments of periodic charges and [pay for]
 
20           reasonable expenses incurred to:
 
21           (A)  Perform financial audits of the fund and claims
 
22                audits of its insurance carriers; or
 
23           (B)  Carry out the purposes of the fund[;] including
 

 
Page 6                                                     2445
                                     H.B. NO.           S.D. 1
                                            
                                                        


 1                the return of refunds to employee-beneficiaries;
 
 2                or
 
 3      (4)  Require any department, agency, or employee of the
 
 4           State and county to furnish information to the board to
 
 5           carry out the purposes of this chapter."
 
 6      SECTION 5.  There is appropriated out of the Hawaii public
 
 7 employees health fund trust fund the sum of $20,300,000, or so
 
 8 much thereof as may be necessary for the fiscal year 2000-2001,
 
 9 to carry out the purposes of this Act.
 
10      SECTION 6.  The sum appropriated shall be expended by the
 
11 department of budget and finance.
 
12      SECTION 7.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
13 New statutory material is underscored.
 
14      SECTION 8.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2020;
 
15 provided that section 3 of this Act shall be repealed on June 30,
 
16 2021, and section 87-25, Hawaii Revised Statutes, shall be
 
17 reenacted in the form in which it read on the day prior to the
 
18 approval of this Act.