STAND. COM. REP. NO. 689

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1679

       S.D. 2

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 1679, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE EMERGENCY AND BUDGET RESERVE FUND,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds from the emergency and budget reserve fund to maintain levels of programs for education, public health, and public welfare.

     More specifically, this measure appropriates funds from the emergency and budget reserve fund to the Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, the Department of Education, and the Executive Office on Aging to provide funding for the following:

     (1)  Respite services;

     (2)  The Healthy Start program;

     (3)  Ke Ola Pono, the Chronic Disease Self-Management program, EnhancedFitness, and for the development of the Aging and Disability Resource Center;

     (4)  Kupuna care services;

     (5)  Catholic Charities, Inc., Kapahulu and Moiliili Senior Centers, and the Waikiki Community Center;

     (6)  The Developmental Disabilities Medicaid Waiver Program;

     (7)  Mental health services;

     (8)  The Partnerships in Community Living program;

     (9)  Direct health care to the uninsured, that may include primary medical, dental, and behavioral health care;

    (10) Substance abuse treatment; and

    (11) The Healthy Aging Partnership program.

     Your Committee received two hundred written comments on this measure.  The written comments may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

     Your Committee finds that difficult economic times and declining tax revenues have resulted in budget cuts for all state services, jeopardizing the safety net of basic human services, health, and education needs for Hawaii's residents and families.  Your Committee also finds that expenditures from the emergency and budget reserve fund are necessary to meet the conditions of emergency, economic downturn, and unforeseen reduction in revenues that the State currently faces.  Your Committee believes that this measure will provide much needed support in maintaining the levels of programs determined to be essential to education, public health, and welfare, especially for some of Hawaii's most vulnerable population.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the amount appropriated out of the emergency and budget reserve fund to provide funding for grants pursuant to chapter 42F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, from $682,000 to an unspecified amount;

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2090, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for 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. 1679, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1679, S.D. 2.

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

____________________________

DONNA MERCADO KIM, Chair