STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1534

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 696

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 696, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the Hawaii Healthcare Workforce Advisory Board to help increase and strengthen the healthcare workforce in the State.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, Hawaii Primary Care Association, and Ohana Health Plan.

     Prior to the hearing on this measure, your Committees posted and made available for public review a proposed S.D. 1, which deletes the contents and inserts substantially similar language from H.B. No. 520, H.D. 2 (Regular Session of 2015), that:

     (1)  Allows the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations to establish workforce advisory boards;

     (2)  Specifies the duties and responsibilities of the workforce advisory boards;

     (3)  Requires the members of the workforce advisory boards to serve without compensation and establishes two-year terms for members; and

     (4)  Inserts an effective date of July 1, 2030.

     Your Committees did not receive any testimony on the proposed S.D. 1.

     Your Committees find that the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act helps to improve the nation's workforce development system and put Americans back to work.  Your Committees further find that the State needs a system that prepares workers for the present workforce and helps businesses find the skilled employees they need to compete and create jobs in America.  In order to provide leadership and flexibility in implementing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, the proposed S.D. 1 allows the Director of Labor and Industrial Relations to establish workforce advisory boards to bring together partners, stakeholders, employers, and educators under various advisory boards.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by adopting the proposed S.D. 1 and further amending the proposed S.D. 1 by:

     (1)  Reinserting the language from H.B. 696, H.D. 1 (Regular Session of 2015) that establishes the Hawaii Healthcare Workforce Advisory Board;

     (2)  Inserting an effective date of January 7, 2059, to encourage further discussion; and

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

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 696, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 696, H.D. 1, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means,

________________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

________________________________ GILBERT S.C. KEITH-AGARAN, Chair