Report Title:

Felix assessment.

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the State entered into a consent decree in 1994 in the case originally titled Felix v. Waihee and now called Felix v. Cayetano (Felix); and

WHEREAS, the State failed, in the eyes of the federal court, to meet the conditions of the consent decree by May 30, 2000, to provide appropriate and effective mental health services for special needs children enrolled in public schools (Felix class children); and

WHEREAS, the federal court imposed a court order on August 2, 2000, with benchmarks to be met over ensuing months and years; and

WHEREAS, the Department of Education and the Department of Health have submitted Felix emergency funding requests for the current fiscal year that are much greater than the estimates they made soon after the court order was issued: from $34,700,000 in August 2000 to $107,100,000 in January 2001; and

already appropriated; and

WHEREAS, the Executive Branch's repeated assurances that it would meet the compliance deadlines, that it would not need any more funding than what was already appropriated, and that it would have various systems in place by a date certain if only the Legislature would provide funding, have been proven to be empty promises; and

WHEREAS, the recently issued report by consultants hired by the Auditor to review the State's Felix compliance efforts indicates a number of basic problems with the approach taken by the Executive Branch and those problems have contributed to the escalation of costs with little indication of effectiveness; and

WHEREAS, the Departments of Education, Health, and Attorney General's responses to the Auditor's consultants' questions provided the Legislature no comfort that Felix class children are being effectively served in spite of the enormous expenditures in recent years; and

WHEREAS, the Legislature is profoundly concerned that the Executive Branch, including the Board of Education, has not approached its Felix responsibilities with a strategic, businesslike orientation with due regard for the State's limited resources; and

WHEREAS, while the administration simply points to the federal court as the source of the fiscal burden, the administration has taken insufficient steps to make

sure that every dollar is effectively spent; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, the Senate concurring, that the Legislature requests the Auditor to continue to oversee, on the Legislature's behalf, the Executive Branch's efforts to provide effective services to Felix class children; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature requests the Auditor to obtain whatever expertise is necessary to provide the Legislature with objective assessments of the Executive Branch's efforts; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Executive Branch is notified that its agencies shall be expected to promptly provide all information requested by the Auditor or on behalf of the Auditor's contractors and consultants; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature, through a committee if appropriate, be kept informed of the State's progress in providing effective services to Felix class children; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, the Attorney General, the Chairperson of the Board of Education, the Superintendent of Education, the Director of Health, the chairs of the Joint Felix v. Cayetano Committee, and the Auditor.