STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2248

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2178

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2178 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to increase the asset limit for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program eligibility from $5,000 to $15,000.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development; the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; the University of Hawai‘i's Bridge to Hope; and the Women's Caucus, Democratic Party of Hawai‘i.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services.

     Your Committee finds that raising or eliminating the public benefit program asset limit is part of a broader asset building agenda that seeks to foster financial independence and self-sufficiency for Hawaii's families.  Your Committee further finds that a change in the asset limit may affect all public assistance programs that the Department of Human Services administers.

     Your Committee has therefore amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring the Department of Human Services to conduct a study on asset limits for public assistance programs that includes:

          (A)  An evaluation of the current asset limits;

          (B)  Promising practices, policies, and trends; and

          (C)  The effects of changing the asset limit on the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, Temporary Assistance to Other Needy Families program, and Med-QUEST program;

     (2)  Requiring the Department of Human Services to report its findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2013; and

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     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. 2178, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2178, 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