STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2540

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3264

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2026

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor and Technology, to which was referred S.B. No. 3264 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII EMPLOYER-UNION HEALTH BENEFITS TRUST FUND STAFF SALARIES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to authorize the Board of Trustees of the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund (Trust Fund) to establish the salary for an assistant administrator.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Board of Trustees of the Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund and Hawaiʻi State Teachers Association.

Your Committee finds that salaries for assistant administrators in the private sector far outpace that of state employment. Your Committee further finds that the Board of Trustees should be allowed to set the salaries for the Trust Fund to effectively recruit and retain the most capable employees to administer the day-to-day operations of the Trust Fund when the Trust Fund Administration is unavailable, of its assistant administrator. This measure will allow the Trust Fund to retain quality staff to ensure the continued strengths of the Trust Fund.

Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of January 1, 2077, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor and Technology that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3264, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3264, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor and Technology,

________________________________

BRANDON J.C. ELEFANTE, Chair