STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2389

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 2000

                                   RE:  S.B. No. 2059
                                        S.D. 1




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

Sir:

     Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was
referred S.B. No. 2059 entitled: 

     "A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WELFARE REFORM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to raise the standard of need
for purposes of public assistance.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure
from the Legal Aid Society, Hawaii State Commission on the Status
of Women, American Friends Service Committee, Parents and
Children Together, Hawaii Disability Rights Commission, National
Association of Social Workers, and six private individuals.
Testimony in opposition was received from the Department of Human
Services (DHS).

     This measure raises the standard of need from the 1993
federal poverty level to the current poverty level, as
established by the federal government.  The standard of need is
used to calculate the amount of payments for financial
assistance, but not for general assistance households.

     Your Committee believes that basing the standard of need on
the 1993 poverty level is obsolete and results in unrealistically
low payments that do not come close to paying for basic living
necessities in Hawaii's economy.  Changing the 1993 poverty level
to the current poverty level on which to base the calculation for

 
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the amount of the assistance allowance is more humane and
appropriate to keep abreast with changing times and inflation.

     According to the DHS, this measure would cause a funding
increase of $62.7 million, which your Committee finds to be in
excess of what the State can afford at the present.  However,
your Committee remains committed in the future to continue to
pursue a change to the current poverty level.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Maintaining the current poverty level; and

     (2)  Changing the 62.5 per cent assistance allowance to 65
          per cent for exempt households, and to not higher than
          65 per cent for all other households.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Health and Human Services that is attached to this
report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose
of S.B. No. 2059, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass
Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2059,
S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

                                   Respectfully submitted on
                                   behalf of the members of the
                                   Committee on Health and Human
                                   Services,



                                   ______________________________
                                   SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

 
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