A bill still alive in the Legislature would, if approved, give former Amfac Sugar Kaua’i workers an additional 12 months of unemployment benefits. Also proposed in pending legislation as a result of Amfac’s closure of sugar operations here is at
A bill still alive in the Legislature would, if approved, give former Amfac Sugar Kaua’i workers an additional 12 months of unemployment benefits.
Also proposed in pending legislation as a result of Amfac’s closure of sugar operations here is at least $500,000 in funding through the state Department of Agriculture for upkeep of former plantation irrigation and drainage systems.
Thousands of bills that didn’t move earlier this month from either the House or Senate to the other have expired, paring the total of 3,331 introduced bills down to around 800.
The survivors include Senate Bill 446 (Senate Draft 1), which passed the Senate and moved over to the House, where it has been referred to the Labor and Finance committees. The measure would extend for an additional year unemployment benefits for roughly 400 ex-Amfac Sugar Kaua’i workers.
Some of those workers’ benefits have ended or are about to end, as those laid off last summer saw their six months of benefits expire early this year.
“These workers now depend upon public assistance as they make the transition to new occupations and lives. Unfortunately, job opportunities for these workers are sparse, and many are having difficulties in finding jobs,” states the legislation as drafted by Sen. Jonathan Chun of Kaua’i (D-7th District).
The measure proposes establishment of a temporary special fund administered by the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, specifically to provide “extended unemployment compensation benefits” to displaced Amfac employees.
The bill would take effect July 1 but does not yet include a dollar figure for the fund. It is written to be retroactive to include any Amfac worker dislocated on or after June 1, 2000.
The initial round of layoffs, called furloughs by the company when they happened last July, affected planting and cultivation personnel. Amfac Sugar Kaua’i ceased all agricultural operations in mid-November of 2000.
House Bill 861 (House Draft 2), which passed the House and is now before the Senate Ways and Means and Agriculture committees, would provide up to $540,000 to the Department of Agriculture’s Agribusiness Development Corporation. The would provide for “uninterrupted operation and maintenance of the infrastructure systems servicing the areas encompassing the Kekaha and Lihu-e plantations for a period of one year, thereby fostering the establishment of diversified agriculture or sugarcane business, or both, on these lands.”
On the west side, a coalition of farmers led by Kauai’s remaining sugar plantation, Gay & Robinson Inc., have won state approval to farm the 25,000 acres or so previously leased from the state by Amfac’s west side operations.
A related bill authored by Chun, Senate Bill 28, would extend from 45 days to 90 days the notice required to be given to employees and the state when a plant is closing. That bill has been referred to the House Labor and Finance committees.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
