STAND. COM. REP. NO. 778

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1937

       S.D. 2

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2007

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1937, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SOCIAL SERVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds out of the federal temporary assistance for needy families program funds to the Department of Human Services for a micro-credit pilot program.

     The measure also requires the Department to provide interim and final reports on the program.

     Your Committee received comments on the measure from the Department of Human Services and the Hawaii Alliance for Community Based Economic Development.

     Your Committee finds that micro-credit is the extension of small loans to low-income entrepreneurs who are otherwise unable to obtain loans in the traditional marketplace.  Micro-credit has been demonstrated to be an effective means to lift the poor out of poverty.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount for the purposes of continued discussion of the matter.  Your Committee has also made technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1937, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1937, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair