STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2613

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2792

S.D. 2

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2792, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILD CARE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Repeal the limitation on criminal history record checks of household members who provide care for a child whose family receives child care subsidies from the Department of Human Services in a regulated child care setting;

(2) Clarify the release of investigation information to the public;

(3) Clarify a child care licensing program's duty to share information it receives, and cooperate with child protective services and law enforcement, when the program receives a report of death or injury of a child; and

(4) Clarify that the Department of Human Services may take administrative action, judicial action, or both, to enforce child care licensing provisions and increase penalties by making them apply on a daily basis.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition, Oahu County Committee on Legislative Priorities of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, and one individual.

Your Committees find that child care providers play an important role in the safety and well-being of a child and that it is of the utmost importance that diligence is used in making criminal history data available to the Department of Human Services on a wider scale. Recent events involving injuries and death have revealed the need for the Department of Human Services to enforce transparent measures for the safety of children in certain child care settings. This measure will ensure that necessary provisions are in place to protect the health, safety, and welfare of children and provide reassurance to their families.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) 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 Judiciary and Ways and Means that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2792, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2792, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Judiciary and Ways and Means,

________________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair

________________________________ BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair