STAND. COM. REP. NO. 989

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1384

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1384, S.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:

(1) Amend chapter 202, Hawaii Revised Statutes, to be consistent with the General Appropriations Act of 2021, Act 88, Session Laws of Hawaii 2021;

(2) Rename "Hawaii Workforce Development Council" to "Hawaii Workforce Development Board";

(3) Require the Hawaii Workforce Development Board and local workforce development boards to develop written conflict of interest policies consistent with federal law and regulations;

(4) Require the Governor to select the chairperson of the Hawaii Workforce Development Board from among the seventeen private sector members;

(5) Require the Hawaii Workforce Development Board to assist the Governor in the coordinating of local workforce development boards to improve and develop a statewide workforce development system; and

(6) Repeal the requirement for the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to submit an annual report to the Legislature on the activities of the K-12 Agriculture Workforce Development Pipeline Initiative.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committees find that nationwide state workforce development boards assist governors by reviewing statewide policies and programs, and making recommendations to align workforce, education, training, and employment funding programs in a state in a manner that supports a comprehensive and streamlined workforce development system in the state. As part of the statewide review function in assisting the governors, the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and related regulations outline requirements regarding conflicts of interest for recipients and subrecipients of federal awards as well as for state and local workforce development board and standing committee members. This measure will amend the Hawaii Workforce Development Council law to be consistent with the state budget as enacted in Act 88, Session Laws of Hawaii 2021, and to conform the State Workforce Development Board statute to the nomenclature and conflict of interest provisions found in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and related regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that there is established the Hawaii Workforce Development Board that shall be placed within the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations for administrative purposes; and

(2) 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 Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1384, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1384, S.D. 2.

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

________________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair

________________________________ KARL RHOADS, Chair