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.C.R. No. 115 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to request the Executive Office on Aging to coordinate efforts to ensure the availability of a statewide network of multi-purpose senior centers.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Moiliili Community Center; Catholic Charities Hawaii, Elderly Services; Waikiki Community Center; Kapahulu Senior Center; and the Policy Advisory Board on Elder Affairs (PABEA). The Executive Office on Aging opposed this measure.

Your Committee finds that 2003 is the sixtieth anniversary of the Senior Center. The first senior center was opened in New York City in 1943. Your Committee further finds that, sixty years later, senior centers are still fulfilling a need in our communities, serving elders and their families by providing an array of community-based services, including information and referral and transportation services, health, nutritional, educational, social, and recreational programs, and volunteer opportunities. Senior centers provide many worthwhile opportunities and support during the day, keeping elders active and healthy and preventing premature institutionalization. In addition, senior centers are cost-efficient, providing services to seniors at a fraction of the cost of institutional care: $230,000 (in state funds for senior centers) would keep nearly 5,000 seniors out of long-term care. Your Committee further finds that Hawaii has the fastest growing senior population in the country; as the baby boomers become elders, senior centers will be an even more essential link in the continuum of services for Hawaii's growing elder population.

Your Committee finds that, despite the recognized value of senior centers to the community, the State does not have a plan to support new and existing senior centers and assure that the services they provide will continue to be available for Hawaii's elders.

The Executive Office on Aging testified that "the State does not have the personnel or the wherewithal, to utilize state resources" to coordinate efforts to ensure the continued availability of a network of senior centers statewide. In light of the critical importance of senior centers in the continuum of care for elders, 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 concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 115, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 115, S.D. 1.