STAND

STAND. COM. REP. 1022

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 585

S.D. 1

H.D. 1

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Human Services and Housing and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 585, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO STATE FUNDS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to transfer from the Department of Health to the Department of Human Services (DHS) the unexpended tobacco settlement funds designated for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

DHS and the Department of Budget and Finance supported this measure. The Hawaii Primary Care Association, Advocates for Consumer Rights, Kokua Council, and a concerned individual opposed this measure.

Your Committees find that this measure proposes to divert funds designated for SCHIP to unspecified children's health programs. Section 328L-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, states that up to ten percent of the total moneys received by the State from tobacco settlement funds are designated specifically for SCHIP.

Your Committees believe that unexpended funds from the portion of the tobacco settlement designated for SCHIP should not be used for other programs, but instead should be used to expand SCHIP and assist other children in need of health insurance.

Your Committees have amended this bill accordingly by:

(1) Expanding eligibility to SCHIP to 300% of the federal poverty level, or the maximum amount allowable by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services;

(2) Specifying that the appropriated amount be used to fund SCHIP eligibility expansion and outreach services; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Housing and Health that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 585, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 585, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Housing and Health,

____________________________ DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair		____________________________ MICHAEL PUAMAMO KAHIKINA, Chair