STAND. COM. REP. NO. 146

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1101

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1101 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INTERIM ASSISTANCE REIMBURSEMENT SPECIAL FUND,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Establish the interim assistance reimbursement special fund into which interim assistance reimbursements received from the Social Security Administration are deposited for repayment of state-funded financial assistance provided under the general assistance, aged, blind, and disabled, or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs for recipients who are retroactively approved for supplemental security income; and

     (2)  Authorize the Department of Human Services to expend the funds for state-funded financial assistance programs.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services and Legal Aid Society of Hawaii.

     Your Committee finds that state-funded financial assistance is paid to qualified general assistance, assistance to the aged, blind, and disabled, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program recipients while their applications for supplemental security income is pending a determination with the federal Social Security Administration.  If the supplemental security income is retroactively approved, the Social Security Administration reimburses Hawaii for the state-funded assistance provided. 

     Your Committee further finds that the determination for supplemental security income may take several months or years if a supplemental security income appeal is filed.  Consequently, the interim assistance reimbursements may not be received for the fiscal year in which the state-funded benefits were paid.  The Department of Human Services is not allowed to retain interim assistance reimbursements received for a prior fiscal year and instead is required to deposit the interim assistance reimbursements into the state treasury.  To stabilize payments to beneficiaries at a minimum benefit amount and to reduce the future need for emergency appropriations for the general assistance program, the Department of Human Services must be allowed to retain the interim assistance reimbursements from prior fiscal years in an interim assistance reimbursement special account to be used by the Department of Human Services for state-funded financial assistance programs.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Requiring, rather than allowing, the use of monies in the interim assistance reimbursement special fund for state-funded financial assistance payments and programs that support and assist recipients to qualify for supplemental security income; and

     (2)  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. 1101, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1101, 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