Report Title:

Economic Self-sufficiency Standard

Description:

Requires the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to establish and update biennially a self-sufficiency standard.  (SB2840 HD1)

THE SENATE	S.B. NO.	2840
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008		S.D. 2
STATE OF HAWAII		H.D. 1

A BILL FOR AN ACT

RELATING TO SELF-SUFFICIENCY.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that a self-sufficiency standard that is measured appropriately and updated consistently for the State of Hawaii would much more accurately reflect the actual income needed to afford the basic necessities of life.

     In 2003, a study conducted for the Hawaii state commission on the status of women calculated the bare-minimum costs for housing, child care, food, transportation, health care, clothing and household costs, and federal and state tax obligations.  The result was a measurement of the cost of living in Hawaii that took into account family size, children's ages, geography, and number of household wage-earners.  The study found that certain households in Hawaii could require as much as double to triple the amount listed in the federal poverty guidelines to meet their basic living needs.  A self-sufficiency standard for Hawaii would be an excellent tool for lawmakers, the business and education communities, and the nonprofit sector to improve efforts to help lower-income families reach economic sufficiency.

     The purpose of this Act is to establish and update biennially a self-sufficiency standard for Hawaii.

     SECTION 2.  Section 201-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§201-3  Specific research and promotional functions of the department.  Without prejudice to its general functions and duties the department of business, economic development, and tourism shall have specific functions in the following areas:

     (1)  Industrial development.  The department shall determine through technical and economic surveys the profit potential of new or expanded industrial undertakings; develop through research projects and other means new and improved industrial products and processes; promote studies and surveys to determine consumer preference as to design and quality and to determine the best methods of packaging, transporting, and marketing the [State's] state's industrial products; disseminate information to assist the present industries of the [State,] state, to attract new industries to the [State,] state, and to encourage capital investment in present and new industries in the [State;] state; assist associations of producers and distributors of industrial products to introduce [such] these products to consumers; and make [such] grants or contracts as may be necessary or advisable to accomplish the foregoing;

     (2)  Land development.  The department shall encourage the most productive use of all land in the [State] state in accordance with a general plan developed by the department; encourage the improvement of land tenure practices on leased private lands; promote an informational program directed to landowners, producers of agricultural and industrial commodities, and the general public regarding the most efficient and most productive use of the lands in the [State;] state; and make [such] grants or contracts as may be necessary or advisable to accomplish the foregoing;

     (3)  Credit development.  The department shall conduct a continuing study of agricultural and industrial credit needs; encourage the development of additional private and public credit sources for agricultural and industrial enterprises; promote an informational program to acquaint financial institutions with agricultural and industrial credit needs and the potential for agricultural and industrial expansion, and inform producers of agricultural and industrial products as to the manner in which to qualify for loans; and make [such] grants or contracts as may be necessary or advisable to accomplish the foregoing;

     (4)  Promotion.  The department shall disseminate information developed for or by the department pertaining to economic development to assist present industry in the [State,] state, attract new industry and investments to the [State,] state, and assist new and emerging industry with good growth potential or prospects in jobs, exports, and new products.  The industrial and economic promotional activities of the department may include the use of literature, advertising, demonstrations, displays, market testing, lectures, travel, motion picture and slide films, and [such] other promotional and publicity devices as may be appropriate; [and]

     (5)  Tourism research and statistics.  The department shall maintain a program of research and statistics for the purpose of:

         (A)  Measuring and analyzing tourism trends;

         (B)  Providing information and research to assist in the development and implementation of state tourism policy;

         (C)  Encouraging and arranging for the conduct of tourism research and information development through voluntary means or through contractual services with qualified agencies, firms, or persons; and

         (D)  Providing tourism information to policy makers, the public, and the visitor industry.  This includes:

              (i)  Collecting and publishing visitor-related data including visitor arrivals, visitor characteristics and expenditures;

             (ii)  Collecting and publishing hotel-related statistics including the number of units available, occupancy rates, and room rates;

            (iii)  Collecting and publishing airline-related data including seat capacity and number of flights;

             (iv)  Collecting information and conducting analyses of the economic, social, and physical impacts of tourism on the [State;] state;

              (v)  Conducting periodic studies of the impact of ongoing marketing programs of the Hawaii tourism authority on Hawaii's tourism industry, employment in Hawaii, state taxes, and the [State's] state's lesser known and underutilized destinations; and

             (vi)  Cooperate with the Hawaii tourism authority and provide it with the above information in a timely manner[.];

and

(6) Self-sufficiency standard.  The department shall establish and update biennially a self-sufficiency standard that shall incorporate existing methods of calculation and shall reflect, at a minimum, costs relating to housing, food, child care, transportation, health care, clothing and household expenses, federal and state tax obligations, family size, children's ages, geography, and the number of household wage earners.  The department shall report to the legislature concerning the self-sufficiency standard no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2009, and every odd-numbered year thereafter.

     The department shall be the central agency to coordinate film permit activities in the [State.] state."

     SECTION 3.  The department of business, economic development, and tourism shall periodically advise and make recommendations to the legislature for the utilization of any federal funding including, but not limited to, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Workforce Investment Act funds that may be available for the purposes of establishing and updating the self-sufficiency standard.

     SECTION 4.  There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $          or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2008-2009 for the department of business, economic development, and tourism to hire one staff position to establish and update the self-sufficiency standard.

     The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of business, economic development, and tourism for the purposes of this Act.

     SECTION 5.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 6.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2020.