STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1246

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    H.B. No. 919

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 919 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STATE EMPLOYMENT,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to enable the State to further implement its work experience training and temporary public service employment programs.

 

     More specifically, this measure:

 

(1)  Expands the exemption from the state civil service laws for temporary public service employment to include work experience training and limits the exemption to those persons entering the workforce or transitioning into other careers under specified federal or state programs; and

 

(2)  Exempts persons described in paragraph (1) from automatic disqualification from public employment based upon a controlled substance-related offense.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

 

     Your Committee finds that participants who complete work experience training will be better equipped to compete for jobs, thereby reducing or eliminating reliance upon public benefits such as unemployment insurance and welfare assistance.  Furthermore, because criminal offenders are less likely to return to prison if they are working, work experience training contributes toward lower recidivism rates.

 

     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. 919, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair