STAND. COM. REP. NO. 145

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 1099

       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. 1099 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELIMINATING THE ASSET LIMIT ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENT FOR THE TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to eliminate the asset limit for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services; Office of Community Services; Office of Hawaiian Affairs; University of Hawaii Bridge to Hope; Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women; Hawaii Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development; Legal Aid Society of Hawaii; Hawaii Women's Coalition; Community Alliance for Mental Health; Goodwill Industries of Hawaii; American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii; American Association of University Women, Windward Branch; and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that asset limitations for public benefit programs have discouraged low-income families from accumulating assets that allow them to successfully transition from poverty to self-sufficiency.  The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program has a work requirement and promotes self-reliance, responsibility, and family stability.  The federal government gives states the flexibility to raise or eliminate their asset tests for most applicants.  Eliminating the asset limit would encourage families to build assets and establish a safety net so they can continue to work toward self-sufficiency and prevent their reliance on public benefit assistance programs.

     Your Committee further finds that there has been significant national discourse regarding asset limits for public benefit assistance recipients, and the Corporation for Enterprise Development has recommended eliminating the asset test.  Alabama, Louisiana, Maryland, Ohio, and Virginia have completely eliminated asset tests for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families recipients.  Research shows that most applicants to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs have very few assets, and in other states, eliminating asset tests greatly simplifies program administration without significantly increasing caseloads.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by 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. 1099, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1099, 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