HCR 179 Hawaii House · 2025 Regular Session

REQUESTING THE SENATE STANDING COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND TECHNOLOGY AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES STANDING COMMITTEE ON LABOR TO CONVENE A LEGISLATIVE WORKING GROUP TO DEVELOP RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ESTABLISHING AND IMPLEMENTING A PAID FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE PROGRAM FOR THE STATE.

HCR 179 is a procedural resolution requesting Hawaii's Senate Labor and Technology Committee and House Labor Committee to form a working group. This group would develop recommendations for creating a state-administered paid family and medical leave program. The resolution does not create the program itself but asks committees to plan its establishment. It focuses on addressing gaps where most private employers (96%) don't provide paid leave, affecting an estimated 154,000 caregivers in Hawaii who balance work and unpaid care duties.

Bill status in committee 1 of 4 stages cleared

Introduction

Mar 2025

Committee Review

Floor Vote

Governor

Introduced Mar 7, 2025 Last action Mar 28, 2025

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What changed between versions

HCR179 → HCR179_HD1 · 5 edits

MODERATE

The bill was reformatted from a Word document template to a clean text version, with the main substantive change being the addition of detailed provisions for the legislative working group's composition, specific tasks, and reporting timeline. These additions clarify who will participate in the study and what specific recommendations they must develop regarding the paid family and medical leave program.

Scope change

The bill's scope remains the same - requesting a legislative working group to study paid family and medical leave - but the scope of the working group's composition and specific tasks was expanded with detailed requirements.

REQUIREMENT

Added detailed composition requirements for the legislative working group, specifying 14 different categories of members including government officials, union representatives, business representatives, and advocacy groups.

Added specific tasks for the working group to develop parameters for the program, including minimum leave duration, wage replacement systems, coverage requirements, and employment protections.

TIMELINE

Added a specific deadline requiring the working group to submit recommendations no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2026.

TECHNICAL

Added a report title and metadata fields that were part of the original Word document template but are now formatted as plain text.

Removed Word document metadata, template formatting, and internal document references that were part of the original file structure.

Floor votes

How they voted

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Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Mar 28, 2025

Committee

Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on LMG as amended in HD 1 with Representative(s) Garcia, Pierick voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Cochran, Hussey, Muraoka, Ward excused (4).

lower

Mar 28, 2025

Committee

Reported from LAB (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1683) as amended in HD 1, recommending referral to LMG.

lower

Mar 25, 2025

Lower · Passed

The committee on LAB recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 5 Ayes: Representative(s) Sayama, Lee, M., Kapela, Kong, Reyes Oda; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Garrett.

lower

Mar 14, 2025

Committee

Referred to LAB, LMG, referral sheet 22

lower

Mar 7, 2025

Introduced

Offered

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors