Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Education and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2222 entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Appropriate funds to the Bridge to Hope Program; and

Your Committees received testimony in support of the measure from the University of Hawaii, Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, two staff members of the Bridge to Hope program, four students in the Bridge to Hope program, a former student of the Bridge to Hope program, Director of the University of Hawaii's Women's Center, Parents and Children Together, Planned Parenthood of Hawaii, National Association of Social Workers, 3Point, a member of the Women's Coalition, a graduate student in the University of Hawaii's School of Social Work, and an individual. Your Committees received comments on the measure from the Department of Human Services.

Your Committees find that involvement in the Bridge to Hope program meets students' Department of Human Services requirements for paid employment. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a woman with a two-year Associate's degree earns 48% more than a woman with a high school diploma. A woman with a bachelor's degree earns almost double that of a woman without one. These percentages translate to real improvements in the quality of life for women and their families. The Bridge to Hope program makes these improvements possible for people in need.

Your Committees have amended the measure by eliminating any specific appropriation figure.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Education and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2222, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2222, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.