STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3867

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2471

H.D. 1

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 2471, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ADEQUATE RESERVE FUND,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide employer relief under the State's employment security law by temporarily amending the employer contribution amounts that are required to be paid into the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund.

Specifically, the measure amends the statutory definition of "adequate reserve fund" to exclude the benefit cost rate from June 2020 through August 2021, for calendar years 2023 through 2030.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from Tax Foundation of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that this measure will allow contributory employers to replenish the Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund and help re-establish the fund's integrity while the State's economy continues to recover from the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making the measure effective upon its approval.

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. 2471, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2471, H.D. 1, S.D. 2.

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

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair