STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2912

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 1346

       H.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 1346, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO YOUTH,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Office of Youth Services to coordinate a positive youth development program to provide after school and school break programs for middle and high school students focused on prevention and intervention and appropriate funds for that purpose.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Youth Services, Hawaii Youth Services Network, and five individuals.

     Your Committee finds that youth violence and truancy are a significant problem in many neighborhoods, a problem compounded by a lack of after school and school break programs and services.  The 2005 Youth Gangs report by the Office of Youth Services noted that the areas with the highest levels of reported gang involvement also had low reported levels of community and family involvement.

     Your Committee further finds that there are several common denominators in the lives of at-risk youth, including lack of connectedness, sense of not belonging, and failure in school.  Providing quality after school and school break programs addresses these critical issues as a preventative measure.

     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 H.B. No. 1346, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

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SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair