STAND. COM. REP. NO.1382

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 294

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 294 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TEMPORARY HEALTH INSURANCE FOR UNEMPLOYED PERSONS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to the Department of Human Services to establish a temporary health insurance program for persons who became unemployed on or after September 11, 2001.

Furthermore, this measure specifies eligibility requirements for participants and requires that the benefit package be similar to the basic benefits provided under the Department's QUEST-Net program.

Your Committee finds that the State's economic stagnation following the events of September 11, 2001, has left a significant number of employees suffering from underemployment and the loss of normal medical insurance coverage. The creation of a temporary health insurance program for these persons is a sound and constructive measure to maintain worker health and productivity.

Your Committee has amended this measure by specifying a $1 appropriation for each of the next two fiscal years and by changing the effective date from July 1, 2003 to July 1, 2053, for the purposes of continued discussion on the matter.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 294, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 294, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair