Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor and Public Employment, to which was referred H.R. No. 27 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this resolution is to express the Legislature's support for the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women (Commission) by urging the Governor to allocate adequate funding to the Commission to enable it to carry out its mission and duties as mandated by law.

The Commission, Hawaii Civil Rights Commission, National Association of Social Workers, League of Women Voters of Hawaii, Sex Abuse Treatment Center for Women and Children, Planned Parenthood of Hawaii, Community Alliance on Prisons, Tesoro Hawaii Corporation, Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline, Business and Professional Women/HI, TJ Mahoney and Associates, and a number of concerned citizens testified in support of this measure. The Department of Health testified in support of the intent of this measure.

Your Committee finds that the Commission is the only statewide governmental and community resource dedicated to addressing the broad scope of issues impacting women and girls in Hawaii.

The stringent financial constraints that our State is under will only increase the Commission's role in the months ahead. Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure to emphasize the important need of adequate funding by changing the title to read: "URGING THE GOVERNOR TO ALLOCATE ADEQUATE FUNDING TO THE HAWAII STATE COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN TO ENABLE IT TO CARRY OUT ITS MISSION AND DUTIES AS MANDATED BY LAW." Technical, nonsubstantive amendments were also made for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

Your Committee wishes to make clear that it fully supports the Commission and the fine work that it provides and wants to stress the urgency and necessity for the administration to continue to fund this very important program. Since the financial implications of this measure are not within the scope of this Committee, your Committee respectfully requests the Committee on Finance to closely review the fiscal implications of this issue and the possibility of supporting this important Commission through direct appropriation.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor and Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.R. No. 27, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Finance in the form attached hereto as H.R. No. 27, H.D. 1.