Family leave bill becomes law

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Employers must provide employees up to 10 days of sick leave a year to care for family members, under a law that takes effect today.

The family leave measure is one of more than 50 bills passed by the 2003 Legislature that become law today.

It applies to businesses with at least 100 employees and also allows for collective bargaining agreements to authorize more than 10 days of family leave. Labor leaders hailed the measure, which was opposed by business advocates.

The bill became law without Gov. Linda Lingle's signature, although she said she supported its intentions. The governor said she felt it was another mandate on business.

Another law establishes a process for installing and maintaining warning signs on improved public lands that will provide the state and counties with protection from liability damages. The Board of Land and Natural Resources will need to approve the wording of the signs, and the state and counties will be required to inspect the signs at least quarterly.

On Mother's Day 1999, a rockslide at Sacred Falls Park killed eight people and injured more than 40 others. Last October, a Hawai'i Circuit Court judge ruled that the state was negligent in protecting the public, despite nine red-lettered signs that warned of the danger of falling boulders.

The Sacred Falls tragedy was cited as a catalyst for the bill.

Other changes that take effect today include:

• House Bill 297, which establishes a drug nuisance abatement unit within the attorney general's office to target landlords who allow tenants to deal drugs. The law appropriates $100,000 over the next two years to finance the unit.
• Senate Bill 855, which extends the current 35 percent income tax credit for solar water heaters and a 20 percent tax credit for wind-power systems.
• An increase in the cigarette tax from $1.20 a pack to $1.30. The new tax is part of an incremental increase that was passed by the 2002 Legislature.