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. 3009 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish an Office of Grant Writing within the Department of Budget and Finance.

More specifically, the Office of Grant Writing would be responsible for writing applications for federal grant moneys on behalf of state agencies, in an effort to maximize the amount of federal grant moneys available to the State. The Office also would advise state agencies on administering those grants.

Your Committee finds that researching the availability of federal grants and making grant applications requires specialized knowledge and experience. Your Committee finds that government agencies and not-for-profit providers have been unable to take full advantage of available federal grant opportunities due to a lack of resources to invest in grant writing and research, particularly in the critical areas of health and human services. Your Committee believes that the State can ill afford to let federal funding opportunities slip away, especially in view of the State's present economic situation, and therefore must take aggressive steps to secure federal grant moneys.

Your Committee has amended the measure by:

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. 3009, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3009, S.D. 1.