STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1436

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1268

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 1268, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WORKERS' COMPENSATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require eligible, injured public employees to participate in the public employer's return to work program in order to receive vocational rehabilitation services under the workers' compensation law.

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Department of Human Resources Development, Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, City and County of Honolulu Department of Human Resources, County of Hawaii Department of Human Resources, and Hawaii Health Systems Corporation.

     Your Committee finds that this measure:

(1)  Recognizes one of the central tenets of workers' compensation claims handling, which is to return injured employees to work as soon as possible in a cost-effective manner;

(2)  Supports and codifies the State's existing policy and practice of returning injured employees to work through the Department of Human Resources Development's Return to Work Priority Program;

(3)  Clarifies the relationship of the Return to Work Priority Program to the overall vocational rehabilitation obligations of the State; and

(4)  Assists the State in controlling its workers' compensation costs.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1268, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1268, H.D. 2, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair