STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2933

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  H.B. No. 2154
                                        H.D. 2
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 2000
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Labor and Environment and Health and
Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 2154, H.D. 2,
entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMMUNITY SERVICES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to transfer the Office of
Community Services (OCS) from the Department of Labor and
Industrial Relations (DLIR) to the Department of Human Services
(DHS).

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this
measure from the Hawaii Community Action Directors Association,
Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc., Kauai Economic Opportunity,
Inc., Susannah Wesley Community Center, Na Loio, and Honolulu
Community Action Program.  Testimony in opposition was received
from the DLIR, OCS, Catholic Charities, and twenty private
individuals.

     The OCS was established within DLIR by Act 305, Session Laws
of Hawaii 1985.  In House Standing Committee Report No. 312 on
H.B. No. 101, the Joint Committee on Human Services and
Employment Opportunities and Labor Relations, noted, "Your
Committees believe that the functions of the new Office of
Community Services are compatible with [the] Department of
Labor".  The OCS was primarily established to receive federal
grants from the Department of Health and Human Services under 42

 
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                                   STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2933
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United States Code, Section 9901 et seq.  The main purpose of the
federal grants was the "reduction of poverty, the revitalization
of of low-income communities, and the empowerment of low-income
families and individuals in rural and urban areas to become fully
self-sufficient", particularly those trying to transition out of
welfare (42 U.S.C. §9901).

     Your Committees find that the only objection to the OCS
being under the DLIR is the amount of funding received by OCS in
the past few years.  Testimony indicated that funding has
progressively declined in the state budget.  Testimony further
indicated that the OCS and the DHS have collaborated and will
continue to collaborate if the OCS remains under the DLIR.

     Your Committees note that much of the funding for the OCS is
applied toward purchase of service contracts for community action
programs, which are concerned with serving welfare clients and
welfare-to-work transition programs, including programs for
immigrants.  Your Committees further note that some providers
prefer to be transferred to the DHS and some to remain at the
DLIR.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by clarifying the
functions of the DHS to include programs currently under the OCS
that choose to transfer to the DHS, and providing for the
transfer of personnel and material, if any, from the OCS to the
DHS relating to the programs being transferred.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your
Committees on Labor and Environment and Health and Human Services
that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord
with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2154, H.D. 2, as amended
herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form
attached hereto as H.B. No. 2154, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred
to the Committee on Ways and Means.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committees on Labor and
                                   Environment and Health and
                                   Human Services,



____________________________       ______________________________
SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair        BOB NAKATA, Chair

 
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