HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

100

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002

  

STATE OF HAWAII

  
   

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

requesting the hawaii department of labor and industrial relations to consult with the hawaii congressional delegation and the united states department of labor to determine how to ensure an equitable distribution of the cost of prepaid health care premiums between private sector employers and employees as well as among public and private employers.

 

 

 

WHEREAS, the Legislature enacted the Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act (HPHCA), Act 210, Session Laws of Hawaii 1974, Chapter 393, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requiring employers to provide health care coverage and allocating the premium costs between the employer and the employee; and

WHEREAS, HPHCA is unique in the United States and has been instrumental in making Hawaii one of the most successful states in ensuring that people have health insurance; and

WHEREAS, HPHCA requires the employer to pay at least one-half of the premium cost and provides that if the employee's contribution is less than one-half of the premium, the employer shall be liable for the entire remaining portion of the premium; and

WHEREAS, HPHCA caps the employee's share of health care premiums to one-half of the premium cost or 1.5 percent of their wages, whichever is less; and

WHEREAS, costs have escalated at a rate so far exceeding that of salary increases that a mushrooming portion of the premium has shifted to employers(the minimum wage in 1974 was $2.00 per hour and the average employer’s minimum monthly share of an employee’s health premium was $11.16 as compared to $5.75 minimum wage and $169.08 for employee's insurance in 2002), resulting in private employers bearing the unanticipated and undue burden of as much as 90% or more of the health care costs of their employees; and

WHEREAS, regarding public employees, the State of Hawaii pays 60% of the premium cost of medical coverage; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii law appears to obligate private sector employers to pay a larger percentage of health plan premiums than the State and counties; and

WHEREAS, because the state requires this coverage, private sector employers should not be obligated to pay a larger share of the cost than public sector employers; and

WHEREAS, later in 1974, the United States Congress enacted the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), 29 U.S.C. 1001-1461 that preempted state laws related to employee benefit plans; and

WHEREAS, after a federal court held in Standard Oil Company of California that ERISA preemption of state laws included Hawaii's HPHCA, the State of Hawaii obtained an exemption under ERISA of the HPHCA as it existed on September 2, 1974; and

WHEREAS, the ERISA exemption of the Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act at 29 U.S.C. 1144(b)(5) presents legal obstacles to amending Hawaii law to reflect these unanticipated changing circumstances without Congressional and/or Department of Labor approval; and

WHEREAS, under color of ERISA section 1144, the United States Department of Labor "may enter into cooperative arrangements under this paragraph and section 1136 of this title with officials of the State of Hawaii to assist them in effectuating the policies of provisions of such Act..."; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2002, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is requested to consult with each member of Hawaii Congressional Delegation and with the United States Department of Labor in preparing a report to the Legislature on how ERISA and/or Hawaii Revised Statutes may be amended to maintain the Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act with equitable contributions between employers and employees of both the public and private sectors as well as equalizing public and private sector premium contributions without violating the conditions of the ERISA exemption; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is requested to submit the information requested by this concurrent resolution to the Legislature no later than thirty days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2003; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, upon passage, certified copies of this concurrent resolution be transmitted to the Director of the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, each member of the Hawaii Congressional Delegation, and the United States Secretary of Labor.

 

 
 

OFFERED BY:

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