STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2390

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3084

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Labor and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 3084 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII NATIONAL GUARD,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to exempt Hawaii National Guard service members activated by the Governor or the Governor's designated representative to state active duty from enrollment in the Employees' Retirement System of the State of Hawaii.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Defense, Hawaiʻi Army National Guard, and eight individuals.

Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Employees' Retirement System.

Your Committees find that under existing law, Hawaii National Guard personnel who are ordered to active duty in the service of the State are designated as state employees and after ninety days of active-duty service are required by law to make mandatory contributions to the State's Employees' Retirement System (ERS). Your Committees further find that while they are required to pay at least eight percent to the ERS, they are only vested for retirement if the service member is employed by the State for ten years, which has never occurred. This measure will improve the Hawaii National Guard's posture and flexibility in responding to state disasters and emergencies by exempting service members from enrollment into the ERS.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that members of the Hawaii National Guard ordered into active duty to provide services to the State shall be ineligible for membership in the ERS based on the active duty;

(2) Removing language that would have provided that any member of the ERS who takes a leave of absence to be on active duty in service to the State shall be entitled to all benefits and required to make all employee contributions under the ERS for the period during which the employee is on active duty in service to the State;

(3) Clarifying that any member of the Hawaii National Guard who is an employee of the State or any county, in a position other than as a member of the Hawaii National Guard ordered into active duty to provide service to the State, shall not be precluded from membership in the ERS or being credited with membership service credit for active military service; and

(4) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Labor and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3084, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3084, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Public Safety and Intergovernmental and Military Affairs and Labor and Technology,

________________________________ HENRY J.C. AQUINO, Chair

________________________________ GLENN WAKAI, Chair