Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2162 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to allows a child in foster custody to apply for a driver's license with the written consent of the Director of Human Services, to require the child's biological parents to pay for motor vehicle insurance on behalf of the child, and to authorize the payment of higher education board allowances to be paid directly to former foster children.

Your Committee received testimony in support of the measure from the Department of Human Services, the Domestic Violence Clearinghouse and Legal Hotline, Hawaii Foster Youth Coalition, the Hawaii Youth Services Network, Legal Aid Society of Hawaii, and eighty-three individuals. The Hawaii Insurers Council submitted comments regarding this measure.

Your Committee finds that this measure gives foster children an opportunity to obtain a driver's license with the Director of Human Services' authorization; an opportunity they might not otherwise have because their biological parents are unavailable to grant permission. Your Committee further finds that this measure will remove the financial burden of providing vehicle insurance for a young driver from the foster parents by making the biological parents responsible for paying the costs of insuring their children, unless a court determines that the parents cannot pay, in which case the State shall provide the child with insurance coverage.

Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

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. 2162, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2162, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs.