Senate Standing Committee on Labor and Technology

Okay. Good afternoon, Committee on Labor Technology. We have a 3pm agenda for decision making. It is Friday, March 28, 2025 during Conference Room 224, Hawaii State Capitol.

This meeting is being streamed live on YouTube and unlike the event that we have to abruptly end this hearing due to technical difficulties, the Committee will reconvene to discuss any outstanding business at 3pm on Monday, March 31 in Conference Room 224. And a public notice will be posted on the Legislature's website.

And again, this is just a deferred agenda. So we just have a pair of resolutions. SCR 145, SR117. This is requesting the State Standing Committee on Labor and Technology and the House Standing Committee on Labor to convene a legislative working group to develop recommendations for establishing and implementing a paid family and medical leave program for the state.

Okay. So Members, the recommendation is to move this as a Senate draft. 1. We're going to amend the results title to reflect that the Department of Labor is requested to convene a working group or the working group.

We're also going to insert language that an independent third party consultant or consultants may be contracted by the Department for facilitation, legal, regulatory review, comparative analysis, compliance requirements, eligibility criteria, program requirements, DLIR staffing and operating requirements, and legislative recommendation language, drafting justifications and the final report.

We're also going to insert language to include any other related subject matter items necessary to effectuate the Working Group's requested duties in these resolutions.

Further in the first bid, further resolve subsection two, we're going to specifically name ERISA prepaid Health Care Act, Family leave as federal and state laws and regulations to be reviewed, as well as any other related pertinent existing program.

Also under the first bid, resolved subsection 3, we're going to include an actuarial study or analysis of Hawaii's workforce, employers, potential beneficiaries as part of the elements necessary to implement a paid family leave and medical program.

In addition to that, under the fifth be it further resolve, we're going to remove lrb, okay, as a technical assistance resource, but further clarify that Department of Labor may contract for those services. This is mainly due to budgetary concerns referenced in LRB's testimony.

We're also going to insert Hoopa, a representative of UKVA as a Member of the Working group. We're also going to insert that the Chair of the Working Group has a discretion to add other stakeholders as necessary into the Working group and any technical, non substantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency. Okay.

Any questions or concerns, colleagues, signal dice.

Chair for the Bolties voting on Ser 145 and SR117. Recommendations to pass with amendments. Chair Aquino, aye. Vice Chair votes aye. Senator Ihara? Aye. Senator Moriwaki.

Aye.

And Senator Favella.

Chair the recommendations are adopted. Okay, thank you very much. That concludes our agenda. Thank you.

Aye.

Sa.