STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2706

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 3028

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Ninth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2018

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 3028 entitled:

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

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require that certain amounts of child support moneys that are collected by the Department of Human Services for public assistance of a child or children be passed through to the family receiving the public assistance.

The measure also requires the Department of Human Services to disregard passed through child support payments when determining the needs of an applicant for or recipient of public assistance.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the American Association of University Women, Hawaii; Domestic Violence Action Center; Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies; Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice; Hawaii State Democratic Women's Caucus; Democratic Party Education Caucus; and three individuals.

The Department of the Attorney General and Department of Human Services submitted written comments on the measure.

Your Committee finds that the additional child support funds to be passed through to families already receiving public assistance, or to families that may need to apply for public assistance in the future, will help to ease the burden of the State's high cost of living on these families.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Making an unspecified appropriation to the Department of the Attorney General for necessary expenses incurred by the Child Support Enforcement Agency in complying with the requirements of the measure;

(2) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

(3) Making technical nonsubstantive changes for purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3028, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3028, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair