Report Title:

Federal Mandates: Funding

WHEREAS, each year the federal government adds to the number and scope of programs and services that states and other jurisdictions are required to implement; and

WHEREAS, the federal government rarely, however, provides adequate funding for these mandated programs and services, leaving the states and other jurisdictions to provide financial and other resources; and

WHEREAS, states and other jurisdictions often must provide these resources at the expense of their own programs and services; and

WHEREAS, this is particularly true for those programs that serve the most vulnerable of our society, the disabled, the elderly, and children with special needs; and

WHEREAS, for example, in 1975, when Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandating special education, the federal government promised to fund forty per cent of the cost of the program, but the federal share of special education in Hawaii remains well below that figure; and

WHEREAS, IDEA has made it possible for many children with disabilities to receive an education, but the high cost of educating children with disabilities and the federal government's failure to pay its fair share have stretched limited state and local education funds, making it difficult to provide a quality education to all students, including children with disabilities; and

WHEREAS, such underfunded mandates exist throughout the programs and services provided by the State of Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, one means to achieving more equitable funding of mandated programs and services is to change federal funding for such programs and services from discretionary to mandatory spending; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-First Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2001, that the federal government is urged to fully fund mandated programs and services; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that Hawaii's Congressional Delegation is requested to give support and assistance in this effort; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States and Hawaii's Congressional Delegation.