Report Title:

Relating to employment security.

Description:

Appropriates $20 million in Reed Act funds for services of the unemployment insurance and workforce development divisions. Provides additional funding to the local workforce investment boards for employer outreach and services, labor force pool expansion and capacity building

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

704

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO EMPLOYMENT SECURITY.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. This Act is aimed at workforce development. This Act shall be know as "The Workforce Development Act of 2005." In the twenty-first century economy, small and rapid growing businesses have powered Hawaii's job growth and helped sustain one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. The legislature recognizes that knowledge, innovation, and research and development are key inputs in the twenty-first century economy and finds that the challenges and opportunities for Hawaii are one and the same: that Hawaii's workforce must be competitive to grow the economy, and the economy needs a skilled workforce to grow.

The purposes of this Act are to utilize Hawaii's portion of Federal Reed act moneys to improve the administration and infrastructure of Hawaii's employee and employer services provided by the department of labor and industrial relations and their partners in the four county governments. The use of these funds will assist in creating a comprehensive and coordinated workforce system that enables and sustains economic development, self sufficiency, and global competitiveness.

SECTION 2. The purposes of this Act are to appropriate federal Reed Act monies to the department of labor and industrial relations for the following initiatives:

(1) Service and maintain the state's america one-stop operating system (AOSOS) which is used for workforce investment act and numerous other department of labor and industrial relations programs. It is a unique web-based, one-stop operating system designed so that the state and workforce investment boards effectively and efficiently meet the requirements of the Workforce Investment Act. The system serves as an automated, comprehensive case management and reporting system for workforce and economic development professionals who work with Hawaii's employers and jobseekers. This appropriation will allow the State to continue to pay for support, maintenance and upgrades to the AOSOS;

(2) Improve connectivity of computer systems. Currently, the data systems between the unemployment insurance (UI) and workforce development divisions (WDD) do not link together and data is manually input twice, occupying too much staff time in the State's one-stops and congesting the system. This will allow for simultaneous UI and WDD intake or linkages. The systems will be built and programmed to connect, similar to what many other states in the nation do to allow seamless sharing of data;

(3) Improve the user-friendliness of the matching system. As hiring is trending toward online access to employees, it is critical for the state to improve its computer job board system. Currently employers cannot directly access employees or their information online as is done in other states. This initiative will allow Hawaii's employers to gain this direct access and place more of Hawaii's unemployed workers into employment;

(4) Provide funding for the purposes of assisting the State's four local workforce investment boards. The funds will be utilized by the local boards to improve employer outreach and services, labor force pool expansion, capacity building, and to fund some shared costs for the operations of the one-stop career centers;

(5) Provide funding to increase employment services beyond the one-stop career centers, including but not limited to expansion of computer kiosks into the state's fifty-one public libraries and community colleges. Such activities will allow for those that are unemployed to access resources that would normally only be available to them at the State's one-stop centers, such as identifying potential employers online, identifying and understanding the elements of an effective resume, submitting of electronic applications, studying for employment tests and providing sample tests, and participating in online tutorials and web-based training courses. The net result of this program would be to promote Hawaii's libraries and community colleges as a job finding and skill building resource for the area residents that are unemployed; and

(6) Provide funding to the department of labor and industrial relations to establish systems for electronic payment of employer taxes and direct deposit for claimant benefit payments.

Further, this Act is also intended to conform to the provisions of P.L. 107-147, Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2002 signed by the President of the Unites States of America on March 9, 2002. This amendment is needed because the requirements for the Reed Act funds distributed under the in 2002 differ from the prior special reed act distribution made in 2002 under the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997. Under the BBA, reed act moneys were restricted to UI administration purposes only. Section 383-123, Hawaii Revised Statutes, must be amended to conform to the TEUCA Reed Act amendments before Hawaii can use the distribution of $31,000,000.

SECTION 3. Section 383-123, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsections (b) and (c) to read as follows:

"(b) Administrative use. Moneys credited to the account of this State in the unemployment trust fund by the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States pursuant to section 903 of the Social Security Act, as amended, may be requisitioned and used for the payment of benefits and for the payment of expenses incurred for the administration of this State's unemployment compensation law and public employment offices pursuant to a specific appropriation of the legislature; provided that the expenses are incurred and the money is requisitioned after the enactment of an appropriation law which: (1) specifies the purposes for which the moneys are appropriated and the amounts appropriated therefor, (2) limits the period within which the moneys may be obligated to a period ending not more than two years after the date of the enactment of the appropriation law, and (3) limits the amount which may be obligated [during a twelve-month period beginning on July 1 and ending on the next June 30] to an amount which does not exceed the amount by which (A) the aggregate of the amounts credited to the account of this State pursuant to section 903 of the Social Security Act, as amended, [during the same twelve-month period and the thirty-four preceding twelve-month periods] exceeds (B) the aggregate of the amounts obligated pursuant to this subsection and charged against the amounts credited to the account of this State [during such thirty-five twelve-month periods. For the purposes of this subsection, amounts which are obligated for administration or paid out for benefits shall be charged against equivalent amounts which were first credited and which are not already so charged; except that no amount obligated for administration during a twelve-month period specified herein may be charged against any amount credited during such twelve-month period earlier than the thirty-fourth preceding such period].

Moneys credited to the account of this State pursuant to section 903 of the Social Security Act, as amended, may not be withdrawn or used except for the payment of benefits and for the payment of expenses for the administration of this chapter pursuant to this subsection.

The appropriation, obligation, and expenditure or other disposition of money appropriated under this subsection shall be accounted for in accordance with standards established by the United States Secretary of Labor. Moneys appropriated for the payment of expenses of administration pursuant to this subsection shall be requisitioned as needed for the payment of obligations incurred under the law appropriating the moneys and, upon requisition, shall be deposited in the employment security administration fund from which such payments shall be made. Moneys so deposited shall, until expended, remain a part of the unemployment compensation fund and, if it will not be expended within one week after it is withdrawn from the unemployment trust fund, shall be returned at the earliest practical date to the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States for credit to this State's account in the unemployment trust fund.

(c) Notwithstanding subsection (b), moneys credited to the State's account in federal fiscal years ending in 2000, 2001, and 2002 shall be used solely for the administration of the unemployment compensation program and are not subject to the specific appropriation requirements of subsection (b)[.]; except that moneys credited in calendar year 2002 with respect to P.L. 107-147 shall not be subject to the conditions of this subsection or the two-year limitation requirement specified in subsection (b)."

SECTION 4. There is appropriated from the unemployment insurance trust fund from moneys deposited pursuant to section 383-123(b) the sum of $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2005-2006, and the same sum, for fiscal year 2006-2007, for the purposes specified in this Act.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of labor and industrial relations for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 5. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect upon approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

BY REQUEST