Hawaii-2023-HR48-Introduced

WHEREAS, the State's working families are not adequately supported during times of caregiving and illness; and

WHEREAS, one measure of understanding the financial hardship experienced by families in the State is identifying asset limited, income constrained, employed (ALICE) households, which are households that with an income above the federal poverty level but below the basic standard of living; and

WHEREAS, according to the "ALICE in Hawai‘i: 2022 Facts and Figures" report by the Aloha United Way, there has been a sharp increase in the number of households pushed below the poverty line; and

WHEREAS, in 2022, forty-four percent of the State's households have fallen below the ALICE threshold, as compared to forty-two percent of households in 2018; and

WHEREAS, while the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 allows twelve weeks of unpaid leave to employees who have worked at a business that employs fifty or more employees, the majority of Hawaii's workforce cannot afford to take unpaid leave to care for a new child or attend to the needs of a family member with a serious health condition; and

WHEREAS, state law, which offers four weeks of family leave during a calendar year, is only available to employees of employers with one hundred or more employees; and

WHEREAS, as of 2022, only twenty-five percent of all civilian workers in the United States have access to paid family leave through their employers; and

WHEREAS, women, as primary caregivers of infants, children, and elderly parents are disproportionately affected by the absence of paid family and medical leave; and

WHEREAS, according to AARP Hawaii, there are 157,000 family caregivers in Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, Hawaii has one of the fastest growing populations of persons aged sixty-five or older in the nation; and

WHEREAS, current projections from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism estimates that 22.6 percent of the State's population will be sixty-five years of age or older by 2030; and

WHEREAS, nearly one-third of persons who need, but do not have access to, family leave will need time off to care for an ill spouse or elderly parent; and

WHEREAS, in the 2017 "Hawaii State Paid Family Leave Analysis Grant Report", the Institute for Women's Policy Research conducted an actuarial analysis using a simulation model to study the use and cost of family leave benefits in Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, based on the most generous benefits model used, the estimated annual cost for an employee earning $48,184 per year would be approximately $58 per year; and

WHEREAS, enacting a comprehensive family leave program would allow employees whose family members are impacted by serious health conditions to provide adequate care for their loved ones without sacrificing their financial security; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, that the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations is requested to convene a working group to design a social insurance family leave program for the State; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group is requested to consist of the following members:

(1) The Director of Labor and Industrial Relations, or the Director's designee, to serve as chairperson of the working group;

(2) The Director of Human Resources Development, or the Director's designee;

(3) The Executive Director of the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, or the Executive Director's designee;

(4) A representative from a nonprofit, public interest organization specializing in advocacy for children;

(5) A representative from a nonprofit, public interest organization specializing in worker's rights;

(6) A representative from a nonprofit, public interest organization specializing in economic justice for working families;

(7) A representative from a public sector labor union that represents public school teachers;

(8) A representative from a public sector labor union that represents government employees;

(9) A representative from a private sector labor union that represents hotel employees; and

(10) A representative from a private sector labor union that represents iron workers; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the chairperson select the representative members of the working group; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group is requested to consider:

(1) A comparative analysis of social insurance family leave programs that have been implemented in other states, including a breakdown of the costs for implementing and sustaining a social insurance family leave program;

(2) A potential budget for the establishment of a social insurance family leave program, including any positions needed to facilitate the program; and

(3) A timeline for implementing a social insurance family leave program, including benchmarks and deliverables; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group is requested to submit a report to the Legislature on its efforts to design a social insurance family leave model for the State, including any findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2024; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Director of Labor and Industrial Relations, Director of Human Resources Development, and Executive Director of the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Social Insurance Family Leave Program; Working Group

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	48
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII