STAND. COM. REP. NO.731

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 1155

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 S.B. No. 1155, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to assist certain trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to receive proper service credit for retirement purposes.

Specifically, this bill allows trustees of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs with less than five years of membership service with the Employees' Retirement System and who were in service on July 1, 2002, and elected to become members of the system by October 1, 2002, to make lump sum payments of contribution to the system in order to acquire credit for their prior service.

Your Committee finds that this measure is necessary to remedy an oversight in Act 183, Session Laws of Hawaii 2002. The purpose of Act 183 was to allow the trustees to participate in and receive the same benefits from the retirement benefits programs in which other elected salaried officials of the State participate. However, the Act did not allow members with less than five years of credited service to acquire service credit for their past service through a lump sum purchase.

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 S.B. No. 1155, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

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

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair