Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2001

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1106 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make an emergency appropriation to allow the Department of Human Services to comply with the Felix v. Cayetano consent decree.

Your Committee finds that on August 2, 2000, the United States District Court for the District of Hawaii ordered the Department of Human Services to hire interagency case coordinators and case aides to deliver direct and support services to children, foster parents, and social workers involved with court-ordered benchmarks. The court also ordered the expansion of contracted services to recruit and support foster parents for special needs children and to expand comprehensive services for the child welfare services population.

Accordingly, this bill appropriates $1,800,000 for fiscal year 2000-2001 to the Department of Human Services for these purposes.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Departments of Human Services and the Attorney General. The Department of Human Services testified that it wished to ensure that that the original ten case support aides hired for the demonstration project established in Act 116, Session Laws of Hawaii 1999, (to which were added 21 additional case aides ordered by the Felix consent decree), remain employed up to July 1, 2001, in light of the fact that the project is to sunset on June 28, 2001.

Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this measure to sunset the demonstration project on July 1, 2001, rather than on June 28, 2001 to clarify that the workers hired in the child welfare services demonstration project established in Act 116, Session Laws of Hawaii 1999, will remain employed up to July 1, 2001.

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 S.B. No. 1106, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1106, S.D. 1.