STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2948

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2072

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2072, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to establish a full-time, permanent Women's Veterans Coordinator position in the Office of Veterans' Services to address the specialized needs of female veterans who served on active duty for the full period they were activated and who were discharged with other than a dishonorable discharge.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Department of Defense Civil Defense Division; State Office of Veterans Services; Advisory Board to the Office of Veterans' Services; Military Officers Association of America, Hawaii Chapter; Hawaii State Democratic Women's Caucus; Planned Parenthood of Hawaii; Hawaii Military Women's Task Force Committee; Hawaii State Democratic Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Caucus; and three individuals.

     Your Committee finds that the population of female veterans is the fastest growing group of veterans and there are more than eleven thousand female veterans residing in Hawaii.  The circumstances and challenges faced by female veterans are often different from those of their male counterparts.  However, veterans' benefits have traditionally been designed to address the needs of male veterans.  Female veterans are in need of gender-appropriate programs, benefits, and services.  This measure appropriates funds to establish a full-time, permanent Women's Veterans Coordinator position to advocate on behalf of female veterans who served on active duty for the full period they were activated.

     Your Committee notes the two concerns expressed by the Hawaii Military Women's Task Force Committee and Hawaii State Democratic Gay Lesbian Bisexual and Transgender Caucus – first, male veterans are also victims of military sexual trauma, and second, female veterans are often forced out of service with a dishonorable discharge as a consequence of the sexual assault culture that exists in the military.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Amending section 1 to reflect the amended purpose of this measure;

     (2)  Renaming the position as the Veterans Coordinator and requiring the Veterans Coordinator to serve all veterans, with a primary focus on female veterans, who served on active duty for the full period they were activated;

     (3)  Eliminating the requirement that the Veterans Coordinator only serve veterans who were discharged with other than a dishonorable discharge; and

     (4)  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 Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2072, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2072, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

____________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair