STAND. COM. REP. NO.2806
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2002
RE: S.B. No. 2500
S.D. 2
Honorable Robert Bunda
President of the Senate
Twenty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2002
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2500, S.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HUMAN SERVICES,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds to assist families with expenses incurred in adopting foster children with special needs and to establish pilot projects to maximize federal benefits for special needs children and Medicare recipients.
Specifically, this bill:
(1) Requires the Department of Human Services to contract with the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii to provide legal services to families who adopt special needs children;
(2) Appropriates funds for legal services contract and for federal adoption assistance program's matching state funds requirement;
(3) Appropriates funds for a pilot project on the island of Hawaii to assist in application for Supplemental Security Income benefits for special needs children;
(4) Requires the Department of Education to provide the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii access to certain information to assist in application for Supplemental Security Income benefits;
(5) Appropriates funds for a grant-in-aid to the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii for a one-year pilot project to maximize Medicare benefits for Hawaii residents; and
(6) Requires the Department of Human Services make information available to the Legal Aid Society of Hawaii to identify claims for dually eligible Medicare and Medicaid recipients.
Your Committee finds that the appropriation in this bill will help foster children with special needs find stable homes by providing adoptive families with financial and legal assistance in adoption matters. Legal assistance pilot projects to aid in applications for Supplemental Security Income benefits for special needs children and to maximize Medicare benefits for eligible Hawaii residents will help recipients obtain necessary benefits and services. In addition, maximizing federal funds will lower State costs, saving taxpayer moneys that can be used to provide services elsewhere.
Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Replacing amounts appropriated with a blank amount;
(2) Clarifying that funds appropriated to apply for Supplemental Security Income benefits are for a grant-in-aid to Legal Aid Society of Hawaii;
(3) Clarifying that the pilot project will maximize Medicare benefits by identifying claims for dually eligible Medicare and Medicare recipients; and
(4) Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for clarity and style.
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. 2500, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2500, S.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,
|
____________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair |
||