STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2990

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.B. No. 2647

       H.D. 2

       S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Human Services and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2647, H.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOMELESSNESS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish and appropriate funds for a Work for a Day Pilot Program to be administered by the City and County of Honolulu that provides homeless individuals with work opportunities.

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from six individuals.

     Your Committees find that there are programs being introduced throughout the United States that help homeless individuals find work and afford shelter.  A pilot program was launched in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to assist individuals in leaving the streets and connecting them with work.  The pilot program is proving to be a success and is receiving national attention.  A similar pilot program was introduced in Tucson, Arizona, assists homeless individuals attain temporary jobs.

     Your Committees further find that a local pilot program on Oahu that is similar to the programs in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Tucson, Arizona, will give homeless individuals day jobs.

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

     (1)  Specifying that the duration of the pilot program is three years;

     (2)  Inserting an appropriation amount of $200,000 for the pilot program, to be matched by the City and County of Honolulu in the second and third year of the pilot program;

     (3)  Transferring all remaining funds in the pilot program from the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness to the Department of Human Services if the City and County of Honolulu is unable to establish the pilot program by January 1, 2017; and

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

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2647, H.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2647, H.D. 2, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committees on Judiciary and Labor and Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs,

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair

________________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair