STAND. COM. REP. NO. 141

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 774

       S.D. 1

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 774 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SCHOOLS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to appropriate temporary assistance for needy families program funds for non-school-hour-programs; appropriate funds for the Safe Haven demonstration program in Hawaii County; appropriate general funds for non-school-hour activities and to establish the new position of educational specialist II; and create a task force on non-school-hour programs.

     Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Department of Education, County of Hawaii, the Office of Youth Services, and the Island of Hawaii YMCA.  The Department of Human Services provided comments.  Copies of written testimony are available for review on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committee finds that it is vital to provide Hawaii's youth with meaningful, wholesome, non-school-hour activities.  Non-school-hour programs provide school-aged children with positive opportunities and experiences, and deter problems of juvenile crime, drug use, and experimentation with tobacco, alcohol, and sexual activity. 

     Your Committee further finds that the Legislature has appropriated funds through Act 281, Session Laws of Hawaii 2006, for the provision of non-school-hour activities to over six thousand three hundred students across the State.  Programs such as UPLINK and A+ provide positive experiences and opportunities for students, and foster healthy behaviors, beliefs, and lifestyles.

     Your Committee is committed to continuing its efforts to provide students with valuable non-school-hour programs.  However, due to current economic conditions, your Committee finds that it is inadvisable to require the counties to provide matching funds in order to receive federal temporary assistance for needy families program funds for non-school-hour activities; create a new position within the Department of Education; or establish a non‑school-hour program task force.

     Your Committee has amended the measure as follows:

     (1)  Adding additional language in the measure's purpose section to provide a more comprehensive history of non‑school-hour programs in the State;

     (2)  Inserting specific appropriation amounts to be appropriated from federal temporary assistance for needy families program funds;

     (3)  Removing the requirement that counties provide matching funds in order to receive federal temporary assistance for needy families monies;

     (4)  Assigning a portion of the funds appropriated to the County of Hawaii for the Safe Haven demonstration program; and

     (5)  Removing the section in the measure that establishes a non‑school-hour program task force; and

     (6)  Deleting the new educational specialist II position within the Department of Education.

     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. 774, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 774, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair