STAND. COM. REP. NO.  1064

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2009

RE:   S.B. No. 1203

      S.D. 2

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Labor & Public Employment, to which was referred S.B. No. 1203, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMMUNITY SERVICE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to promote community service and volunteerism among Hawaii residents between the ages of 15 and 18 by:

(1)  Requiring the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) to establish a voluntary program to allow state residents between the ages of 15 and 18, inclusive, to serve a minimum of five-hundred hours of community service;

(2)  Providing $3 per hour in scholarship funds to participants in this voluntary program to be used to finance any educational program chosen by the participant until the age of 30;

(3)  Establishing a trust fund within the Office of Community Services (OCS) to receive the scholarship funds for the participants' use;

(4)  Requiring DLIR to prepare a plan, with the assistance of all state executive agencies, for the implementation of the mandatory community service plan;

(5)  Requiring DLIR to submit initial and final reports to the legislature that include findings, recommendations, and proposed legislation regarding the mandatory community service plan; and

(6)  Requiring the Attorney General to advise OCS on the legal issues involved in operating and administering this program.

     The Hawaii Association of Independent Schools testified in support of this bill.  OCS supported the intent of this measure.

     Community service and volunteerism not only provide students with real world experiences but also serve to teach these students civic responsibility.  The establishment of a voluntary community service program which also provides scholarship funds to individuals will afford community service providers with much needed volunteer support and provide students with a means of earning scholarship funds to further their educational goals.

     Your Committee notes that a measure currently being considered by the Legislature, S.B. No. 905, seeks to transfer OCS from DLIR to the Department of Human Services.  Should S.B. No. 905 pass, your Committee finds that it will be necessary for this measure to be amended to reflect the new department to which OCS will be administratively attached.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Public Employment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1203, S.D. 2, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Human Services.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor & Public Employment,

____________________________

KARL RHOADS, Chair