Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2964 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to statutorily establish the Hawaii Commission for National and Community Service (Commission).

Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Department of Human Services, Department of Education, and the Commission. Comments were received from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR).

The Commission was created by Executive Order 94-01 and was placed in the DLIR for administrative purposes. Hawaii is required to have the Commission in order to receive federal funds through the Corporation for National Service for the AmeriCorps national service program, as part of the National and Community Service Act of 1993.

This measure gives the Commission a permanent home, inasmuch as an executive order is necessarily temporary in nature in accordance with section 26-41, Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to the creation of temporary boards and commissions by the Governor.

Your Committee is aware that a similar measure was vetoed by the Governor last year (S.B. No. 1535), for the reason that the bill was unnecessary because the Commission continues to exist to receive federal funds and the DLIR provides adequate administrative support. However, your Committee remains uneasy about the temporary nature of the Commission and prefers that it be established in statute.

Your Committee has amended this measure by replacing the Department of Human Services with the University of Hawaii as the most appropriate agency to house the Commission. According to testimony of the Commission, "The prospects of operating out of a University of Hawaii base provides promise of a mutually beneficial collaboration with extensive benefits for the national and community service movements in Hawaii. The long history of interest and support for service learning throughout the University system makes this an ideal location to nurture the Commission to its full potential."

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. 2964, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2964, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.