STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3356

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  H.B. No. 2536
                                        H.D. 1
                                        S.D. 1




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

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B.
No. 2536, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL
     HEALTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to make an emergency
appropriation for child and adolescent mental health.

     Specifically, this bill appropriates additional general fund
and special fund moneys to the Department of Health for fiscal
year 1999-2000 to allow the Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Division to continue to provide services to certain emotionally
disturbed children and adolescents.  In addition, the bill:

     (1)  Provides that for the purposes of the child and
          adolescent mental health program and for the program
          for services provided to certain emotionally disturbed
          children and adolescents:

          (A)  None of the appropriations shall be expended for
               any sex offender treatment programs located within
               3,000 feet of a school campus in Hawaii; and


 
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          (B)  A minimum of ten per cent of the funds
               appropriated and expended by the Department of
               Health for any new treatment or service programs
               shall be expended for the purpose of conducting
               process and outcome evaluations of these programs;

     (2)  Requires these process and outcome evaluations to be
          conducted for the Department of Health by an
          independent evaluator;

     (3)  Requires the Department of Health to submit reports of
          these process and outcome evaluations to the
          Legislature prior to the convening of the Regular
          Session of 2002; and to the Auditor, at any time, upon
          the request of the Auditor;

     (4)  Directs the Auditor to monitor the conduct of these
          process and outcome evaluations and to report its
          findings and recommendations to the Legislature or the
          Department of Health, or both, whenever or as deemed
          necessary; and

     (5)  Prohibits the Department of Health from relocating any
          emotionally disturbed child or adolescent from the
          mainland to Hawaii, unless it is determined that it is
          in the best developmental interest of the child.

     This bill is recommended by the Governor for immediate
passage in accordance with the state constitution.

     Your Committee finds that, according to the Department of
Health, unanticipated increases in the cost to serve children and
adolescents who are severely emotionally disturbed, and
obligations associated with the consent decree in Felix v.
Cayetano will increase the expenditures of the Child and
Adolescent Mental Health Division beyond amounts authorized for
fiscal year 1999-2000.

     Your Committee acknowledges the serious concern expressed by
your Committee on Health and Human Services regarding the
legality of determining the appropriate placement of an
emotionally disturbed child or adolescent based upon funding and
cost issues.

     Your Committee also finds that many Pearl City residents and
community organizations have expressed concern about the proposal
from the Department of Health to establish a juvenile sex

 
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offender treatment facility on the campus of Waimano Home.  Your
Committee further finds that the Department of Health did not
hold informational meetings in the community until after the
State was committed to constructing the $1,500,000 facility at
Waimano Home.  Additionally, the Department of Health master plan
for Waimano Home, completed in 1992 with extensive community
input, made no reference to a juvenile sex offender treatment
facility.  Moreover, the request for proposal issued by the
Department of Health for a contractor to operate the facility did
not include any requirements for security measures to ensure the
protection of students and the community.  In fact, the request
for proposal only provides for client safety and security and
requires that seclusion and restraint are not to be used and
further states that the goal is to establish services in the
least restrictive environment.

     Your Committee also notes that the 1995 Hawaii Juvenile Sex
Offender Master Plan, created jointly by the Department of
Health, the Department of Human Services, the Department of
Education, the Office of Children and Youth, and the Judiciary,
states the following:

     (1)  Juvenile justice and/or social service systems have a
          primary responsibility to protect the safety and
          well-being of the community from further victimization
          by adolescents who have exhibited sexually abusive
          behavior;

     (2)  Community safety takes precedence over any other
          conflicting consideration and, ultimately, is in the
          best interest of the sexually abusive youth;

     (3)  Treatment providers must be responsible to society; and

     (4)  Community protections must be the highest priority.

     Your Committee finds that the Department of Health violated
all of these provisions of the Master Plan in planning for the
Waimano facility.

     Your Committee further notes that returning youthful sexual
offenders to Hawaii to receive services will increase the cost of
providing services.  According to the Department of Health, it
currently costs $400 per student per day to provide services on
the mainland, whereas the department is budgeting $500 per
student per day for services in Hawaii, in addition to the
$1,500,000 in construction funds.

 
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     Your Committee finds that while the Department of Health
acted legally in the development of this facility, it violated
every moral tenet of community involvement and public trust.
Finally, your Committee strongly believes that placing such a
facility adjacent to two schools is unacceptable.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your
Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No.
2536, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.

                                 Respectfully submitted on behalf
                                 of the members of the Committee
                                 on Ways and Means,



                                 ________________________________
                                 CAROL FUKUNAGA, Co-Chair



                                 ________________________________
                                 ANDREW LEVIN, Co-Chair

 
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