Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1352 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make permanent the statutory authority for the licensing of community-based case management agencies and the certification of community care foster family homes enacted in Act 273, Session Laws of Hawaii 2001.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of Human Services; the Office of the Attorney General; Catholic Charities Elderly Services; the Case Management Council; Case Management, Inc.; and two concerned citizens. Testimony in support of the intent of this measure was submitted by the Hawaii Disability Rights Center.

Your Committee recognizes the need to provide safe environments for adults in community care foster family homes. Your Committee finds that requiring community-based case management programs to be licensed and community care foster family homes to be certified by the Department of Human Services helps ensure that providers and foster family home operators meet certain specified standards and that the health and safety of adults in community care foster family homes is adequately protected.

Your Committee further finds that conducting criminal history record checks on the service providers is another way to help ensure the safety of dependent adults living in community care foster family homes. According to the Office of the Attorney General, the $65,000 appropriation to the Criminal History Record Improvement Fund is necessary for the processing of national record checks through the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1352, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1352, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.