STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3058

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2204

H.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Human Services and Labor, to which was referred H.B. No. 2204, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HUMAN SERVICES,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Department of Human Services, in conjunction with the Financial Assistance Advisory Council, to convene a task force to revise and restructure the welfare payment structure to incentivize welfare recipients to advance in their careers while retaining their beneficiary status;

(2) Re-establish the exit and retention bonus program; and

(3) Appropriate funds to re-establish the exit and retention bonus program.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from Mental Health America of Hawai‘i, League of Women Voters of Hawaii, Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, and one individual. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services.

Your Committees find that existing state welfare policies often penalize welfare recipients who seek job promotions or higher paying career opportunities. Your Committees further find that an increase in income often causes welfare recipients to lose their beneficiary status, resulting in financial hardships. This measure will convene a task force to revise the welfare payment system to allow welfare recipients to advance in their careers without necessarily losing their beneficiary status. This measure will also require the Department of Human Services to re-establish the exit and retention bonus program to encourage welfare recipients to voluntarily leave the welfare system and enter the workforce, increase their hours of employment, and remain out of the welfare system.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Human Services and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2204, H.D. 1, and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Labor,

________________________________ JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair

________________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair