HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

669

TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to public employment.

 

 

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

 


PART I

     SECTION 1.  Section 87A-32, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "[[]§87A-32[]]  State and county contributions; active employees.  (a)  [The] Except as provided in subsection (b), the State, through the department of budget and finance, and the counties, through their respective departments of finance, shall pay to the fund a monthly contribution equal to the amount established under chapter 89C or specified in the applicable public sector collective bargaining agreements, whichever is appropriate, for each of their respective employee-beneficiaries and employee-beneficiaries with dependent-beneficiaries, which shall be used toward the payment of costs of a health benefits plan; provided that:

     (1)  The monthly contribution shall be a specified dollar amount;

     (2)  The monthly contribution shall not exceed the actual cost of a health benefits plan;

     (3)  If both husband and wife are employee-beneficiaries, the total contribution by the State or the county shall not exceed the monthly contribution for a family plan; and

     (4)  If the State or any of the counties establish cafeteria plans in accordance with Title 26, United States Code section 125, the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and section 78-30, the monthly contribution for those employee-beneficiaries who participate in a cafeteria plan shall be made through the cafeteria plan, and the payments made by the State or counties shall include their respective contributions to the fund and their employee-beneficiary's share of the cost of the employee-beneficiary's health benefits plan.

     (b)  The State, through the department of budget and finance, and the counties, through their respective departments of finance, shall pay to the fund a monthly contribution for each of their respective employee-beneficiaries and employee-beneficiaries with dependent-beneficiaries, hired after June 30, 2015, and employee-beneficiaries who make an election pursuant to subsection (c), which shall be used toward the payment of costs of a health benefits plan; provided that:

     (1)  The monthly contribution shall be equal to the cost of the most popular self plan;

     (2)  Costs for coverage in excess of the cost of the most popular self plan shall be paid by the employee-beneficiary; and

     (3)  If the State or any of the counties establish cafeteria plans in accordance with Title 26, United States Code section 125, the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and section 78-30, the monthly contribution for those employee-beneficiaries who participate in a cafeteria plan shall be made through the cafeteria plan, and the payments made by the State or counties shall include their respective contributions to the fund and their employee-beneficiary's share of the cost of the employee-beneficiary's health benefits plan.

     (c)  Any employee-beneficiary hired prior to July 1, 2015, may elect to become subject to subsection (b) by filing an election form with the board.  The election shall be made prior to          1, 2015.  The election shall be irrevocable.

     [(b)] (d)  The State, through the department of budget and finance, and the counties, through their respective departments of finance, shall pay to the fund a monthly contribution equal to the amount established under chapter 89C or specified in the applicable public sector collective bargaining agreement, whichever is applicable, for each of their respective employees, to be used toward the payment of group life insurance benefits for each employee."

PART II

     SECTION 2.  Section 78-23, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§78-23  Leaves of absence.  (a)  Employees shall be eligible for vacation leave, sick leave, and other leaves of absence, with or without pay, as negotiated under chapter 89 or adjusted under chapter 89C, as applicable[.]; provided that leaves shall be consistent with all limitations and requirements under this section.

     (b)  The vacation and sick leave allowances for all employees hired after June 30, 2015, shall be limited as follows:

     (1)  After the completion of twelve months of service, no more than one hundred twenty hours of vacation leave and one hundred twenty hours of sick leave shall be allowed;

     (2)  After the completion of each succeeding twelve months of service thereafter, no more than one hundred twenty additional hours of vacation leave and one hundred twenty additional hours of sick leave shall be allowed for each twelve-month period, subject to the maximum allowances under paragraph (3); and

     (3)  The maximum allowance for vacation leave shall be no more than four hundred eighty hours, and the maximum allowance for sick leave shall be no more than four hundred eighty hours.

In operations where employees do not earn nor use vacation or sick leave credits in essentially the same manner as twelve-month employees on a forty hour per week work schedule, the appropriate authority shall ensure that the equivalent of the limitations under this section shall also apply to employees in those operations who are hired after June 30, 2015.  The limitations under this section shall not prohibit collective bargaining negotiations pursuant to chapter 89; provided that collective bargaining negotiations regarding leaves of absence for employees hired after June 30, 2015, shall render those employees ineligible for state and county contributions for health plans under section 87A-32(b).  Employees ineligible under section 87A-32(b) shall be subject to section 87A-32(a).

     (c)  Vacation and sick leave allowances shall be recorded and administered on a calendar year basis.  The allowance accruing during each calendar year shall be credited to employees as of December 31, of each year.

     (d)  Any unused vacation and sick leave allowances, which are not used by an employee during the year in which it accrues, shall accumulate for succeeding years; provided that:

     (1)  The total recorded accumulation of vacation leave shall be no more than four hundred eighty hours for employees hired after June 30, 2015; and

     (2)  The total recorded accumulation of sick leave shall be no more than four hundred eighty hours for employees hired after June 30, 2015.

     No employee shall be granted or permitted to take vacation or sick leave in any calendar year in excess of the maximum accumulation allowed in this subsection.

     [(b)] (e)  When an employee is transferred from one department to another within the same jurisdiction or to another jurisdiction within the State, the employee shall be given credit for the vacation earned or accumulated in the department from which the employee transferred, and the director of finance of the State or the equivalent officers of the several jurisdictions shall make the appropriate transfer of funds to implement the employee transfer.  Moneys received from any such transfer of funds by a state agency financed by the general fund of the State shall be deposited with the director of finance of the State to the credit of the general fund of the State; provided that, when an employee is transferred from one department to another within the same jurisdiction, the transfer of funds shall not be made if the employee's salary is paid from the same fund.  Compensation for any period of vacation allowance shall be paid at the rate to which the employee is entitled at the time the allowance is granted.

     [(c)] (f)  Upon discharge, an employee shall be entitled to all of the employee's accumulated vacation allowance plus the employee's current accrued vacation allowance to and including the date of discharge, notwithstanding that the current accrued vacation allowance may not have been recorded at the time.  If any employee dies with accumulated or current accrued vacation earned but not taken, an amount equal to the value of the employee's pay over the period of such earned vacation, and any earned and unpaid wages, shall be paid to the person or persons who may have been designated as the beneficiary or beneficiaries by the employee during the employee's lifetime in a verified written statement filed with the comptroller or other disbursing officer who issues warrants or checks to pay the employee for the employee's services as a public employee, or, failing the designation, to the employee's estate.

     [(d)] (g)  Whenever an employee is to be discharged, voluntarily or involuntarily, the employee, at the option of the appointing authority, may be discharged and paid forthwith, in lieu of the employee's vacation allowance, the amount of compensation to which the employee would be entitled or which the employee would be allowed during the vacation period if the employee were permitted to take the employee's vacation in the normal manner, and in [such] that case the employee's position may be declared vacant and may be permanently filled by a new appointee before the expiration of any vacation period following the date of the discharge.  For an employee hired after June 30, 1997, who is to be discharged, voluntarily or involuntarily, the amount of compensation to be paid in lieu of vacation allowance under this section shall be computed using the rate of pay and amount of accumulated and accrued vacation on the date the employee is discharged.  Prompt notice upon [such] forms and in [such] a manner as may be required shall be given by the department head of any action taken under this provision.

     [(e)] (h)  Payments of vacation allowance paid pursuant to [subsections (c)] subsection (f) or [(d)] (g) shall be subject to the provisions of chapter 88D."

     SECTION 3.  Section 78-23.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

     "(a)  The governor or mayor or their respective designees may grant a state or county employee who is a certified American Red Cross disaster volunteer up to thirty days paid leave of absence to perform disaster relief services for the American Red Cross, a federally chartered nongovernmental disaster relief organization, when a disaster has been:

     (1)  Designated as level III or higher by American Red Cross regulations;

     (2)  Officially declared by the President of the United States; or

     (3)  Declared a state of emergency by the governor;

provided that the employee has prior authorization from the governor or mayor, or their respective designee, as applicable, and the leave of absence imposes no undue hardship on state or county operations[.]; provided further that no leave shall be authorized in excess of the maximum amount allowed pursuant to section 78-23."

     SECTION 4.  Section 78-23.6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "[[]§78-23.6[]]  Leave of absence to serve as bone marrow donor or organ donor.  Any officer or employee in the service of the State or any of the several counties shall be entitled to:

     (1)  Seven days of paid leave each calendar year to serve as a bone marrow donor; and

     (2)  Thirty days of paid leave each calendar year to serve as an organ donor[.];

provided that no leave shall be authorized in excess of the maximum amount allowed pursuant to section 78-23."

PART III

     SECTION 5.  Chapter 87A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§87A-     State and county contributions; employees hired after June 30, 2015, and retired.  (a)  This section shall apply to state and county contributions to the fund for employees hired prior to July 1, 2015, who elected to be subject to section 87A-32(b), and who retired, and to employees hired after June 30, 2015, and who retired, except that this section shall not apply to the following employees, for whom state and county contributions shall be made as provided by section 87A-36:

     (1)  An employee hired after June 30, 2001, and prior to July 1, 2015, who transfers employment after June 30, 2015, and who cumulatively accrues at least ten years of credited service; and

     (2)  An employee hired after June 30, 2001, and prior to July 1, 2015, who has at least ten years of credited service prior to a break in service.

     (b)  Neither the State nor a county shall make a contribution to the fund for a retired employee to whom this section applies."

     SECTION 6.  Section 87A-23, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§87A-23  Health benefits plan supplemental to medicare.  (a)  The board shall establish a health benefits plan, which takes into account benefits available to an employee-beneficiary and spouse under medicare, subject to the following conditions:

     (1)  There shall be no duplication of benefits payable under medicare.  The plan under this section, which shall be secondary to medicare, when combined with medicare and any other plan to which the health benefits plan is subordinate under the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' coordination of benefit rules, shall provide benefits that approximate those provided to a similarly situated beneficiary not eligible for medicare;

     (2)  The State, through the department of budget and finance, and the counties, through their respective departments of finance, shall pay to the fund a contribution equal to an amount not less than the medicare part B premium, for each of the following who are enrolled in the medicare part B medical insurance plan:

         (A)  [an] An employee-beneficiary who is a retired employee,

         (B)  [an] An employee-beneficiary's spouse while the employee-beneficiary is living, and

         (C)  [an] An employee-beneficiary's spouse, after the death of the employee-beneficiary, if the spouse qualifies as an employee-beneficiary.

          [For purposes of this section, a "retired employee" means retired members of the employees' retirement system; county pension system; or a police, firefighters, or bandsmen pension system of the State or a county as set forth in chapter 88.  If the amount reimbursed by the fund under this section is less than the actual cost of the medicare part B medical insurance plan due to an increase in the medicare part B medical insurance plan rate, the fund shall reimburse each employee-beneficiary and employee-beneficiary's spouse for the cost increase within thirty days of the rate change.] Each employee-beneficiary and employee-beneficiary's spouse who becomes entitled to reimbursement from the fund for medicare part B premiums after July 1, 2006, shall designate a financial institution account into which the fund shall be authorized to deposit reimbursements.  This method of payment may be waived by the fund if another method is determined to be more appropriate;

     (3)  The benefits available under this plan, when combined with benefits available under medicare or any other coverage or plan to which this plan is subordinate under the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' coordination of benefit rules, shall approximate the benefits that would be provided to a similarly situated employee-beneficiary not eligible for medicare;

     (4)  All employee-beneficiaries or dependent-beneficiaries who are eligible to enroll in the medicare part B medical insurance plan shall enroll in that plan as a condition of receiving contributions and participating in benefits plans under this chapter.  This paragraph shall apply to retired employees, their spouses, and the surviving spouses of deceased retirees and employees killed in the performance of duty; and

     (5)  The board shall determine which of the employee-beneficiaries and dependent-beneficiaries, who are not enrolled in the medicare part B medical insurance plan, may participate in the plans offered by the fund.

     (b)  Subsection (a)(2) and (3) shall not apply to:

     (1)  An employee-beneficiary hired prior to July 1, 2015, who elects to be subject to section 87A-32(b);

     (2)  An employee-beneficiary hired after June 30, 2015; or

     (3)  The spouse of an employee-beneficiary described in paragraph (1) or (2).

     (c)  For purposes of this section, "retired employee" means a retired member of the employees' retirement system; county pension system; or a police, firefighters, or bandsmen pension system of the State or a county as set forth in chapter 88."

     SECTION 7.  Section 87A-33, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

     "(a)  Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, this section shall apply to state and county contributions to the fund for:

     (1)  The dependent-beneficiary of an employee who is killed in the performance of duty;

     (2)  A dependent-beneficiary, upon the death of the employee-beneficiary, except as provided in section 87A-36;

     (3)  An employee-beneficiary who retired after June 30, 1984, due to a disability falling within sections 88-79 and 88-285;

     (4)  An employee-beneficiary who retired before July 1, 1984;

     (5)  An employee-beneficiary who:

         (A)  Was hired before July 1, 1996;

         (B)  Retired after June 30, 1984; and

         (C)  Who has ten years or more of credited service, excluding sick leave;

     (6)  An employee-beneficiary who:

         (A)  Was hired after June 30, 1996 [;], and before July 1, 2015, and does not make an election to be subject to section 87A-32(b); and

         (B)  Retired with twenty-five or more years of credited service, excluding sick leave, except as provided in section 87A-36; and

     (7)  Employees who retired prior to 1961 and their dependent-beneficiaries."

     SECTION 8.  Section 87A-33.5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "[[]§87A-33.5[]]  State and county contribution; reimbursement for retired employees.  (a)  Effective July 1, 2007, an employee-beneficiary who retires and relocates outside of the State shall be reimbursed for the premiums paid by the employee-beneficiary for a personal health insurance policy; provided that the board shall determine which employee-beneficiaries and what types of personal health insurance policies shall be eligible for reimbursement and may set other conditions consistent with this section that shall be met for the employee-beneficiary to receive the reimbursements provided under this section.

     (b)  No personal health insurance policy shall be eligible for reimbursement under this section for the following employees:

     (1)  An employee who makes an election to be subject to section 87A-32(b); and

     (2)  An employee first hired after June 30, 2015.

     (c)  The reimbursement under this section shall be the lesser of:

     (1)  The actual cost of the personal health insurance policy; or

     (2)  The amount of the state or county contribution for the most comparable health benefits plan.

     Reimbursements shall be paid by the fund on a quarterly basis upon the presentation of documentation that the premiums for the personal health insurance policy have been paid by the employee-beneficiary.

     (d)  This section shall apply to all employee-beneficiaries who retire and relocate outside of the State, regardless of their date of retirement."

     SECTION 9.  Section 87A-36, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended as follows:

     1.  By amending the title to read:

     "§87A-36  State and county contributions; employees hired after June 30, 2001, and before July 1, 2015, and retired."

     2.  By amending subsections (a) and (b) to read:

     "(a)  This section shall apply to state and county contributions to the fund for employees hired after June 30, 2001, and before July 1, 2015, except for those employees hired before July 1, 2015, who elect to be subject to section 87A-32(b), and who retired, except that this section shall not apply to the following employees, for whom state and county contributions shall be made as provided by section 87A-35:

     (1)  An employee hired after June 30, 1996, and prior to July 1, 2001, who transfers employment after June 30, 2001, and who cumulatively accrues at least ten years of credited service; and

     (2)  An employee hired after June 30, 1996, and prior to July 1, 2001, who has at least ten years of credited service prior to a break in service.

     For purposes of this section:

     "Break in service" means to leave state or county employment for more than ninety calendar days before returning to state or county employment.

     "Transfer" means to leave state or county employment and return to state or county employment within ninety calendar days.

     (b)  For purposes of this section, if an employee, except for an employee hired prior to July 1, 2015, who elects to be subject to section 87A-32(b), leaves state or county employment and returns to state or county employment after July 1, 2001, and before July 1, 2015, upon retirement, the employee's years of service shall be computed in the same manner as set forth in chapter 88."

PART IV

     SECTION 10.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 11.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2015; provided that for public employees hired prior to the effective date of this Act who are subject to a collective bargaining agreement, the provisions of this Act shall take effect upon the expiration of the respective collective bargaining agreement in effect on the effective date of this Act.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

 

 


 


 

Report Title:

Hawaii Employer-Union Health Benefits Trust Fund; New Employees; Leaves of Absence; Election

 

Description:

Sets state and county contributions for health plans equal to the cost of the most popular self plan for public employees hired after 6/30/2015.  Allows current active employees to make a one-time election to receive the same contributions for health plans that are offered to public employees hired after 6/30/2015.  Limits vacation and sick leave to 480 hours each for public employees hired after 6/30/2015.  Eliminates retirement health benefits for public employees hired after 6/30/2015.

 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.