STAND. COM. REP. NO. 822-24

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2024

RE: H.B. No. 2552

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Finance, to which was referred H.B. No. 2552, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO EMPLOYEE BENEFITS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Extend, under certain conditions, the family leave period for up to eight additional weeks for employees who are unable to perform their employment duties due to the birth of a child who is required to stay in a neonatal intensive care unit; and

(2) Require the Civil Rights Commission to amend its administrative rules to include neonatal care as a related medical condition for purposes of sex discrimination.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations; Disability and Communication Access Board; Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association; Hawaiʻi Children's Action Network Speaks!; Breastfeeding Hawaii; and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services; Hawaiʻi Civil Rights Commission; and Society of Human Resource Management Hawaii.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Finance that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2552, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Finance,

____________________________

KYLE T. YAMASHITA, Chair