STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1540

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.C.R. No. 62

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Human Services and Public Safety, Intergovernmental, and Military Affairs, to which was referred S.C.R. No. 62 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING THE GOVERNOR'S COORDINATOR ON HOMELESSNESS AND THE CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU TO COME TOGETHER AND PRIORITIZE THEIR HOMELESSNESS EFFORTS IN THE AREA SURROUNDING THE HAWAI‘I CHILDREN'S DISCOVERY CENTER BY CONVENING A TASK FORCE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Coordinator on Homelessness and the City and County of Honolulu to come together and prioritize the homeless efforts in the area surrounding the Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center by convening a task force.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Children's Discovery Center and nine individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness and Hawaii Community Development Authority.

Your Committees find that children's museums play a significant role in promoting lifelong learning and serve as important cultural resources within the community. The Hawaii Children's Discovery Center (Center) is the first and only children's museum in the State. The Center's mission is to bring information and experiences about the world to the children of Hawaii and instill in Hawaii's children pride in themselves and their ethnic and cultural heritage. The Center is a popular visitor attraction for families with children of all ages and a place where they can experience, explore, investigate, and discover things about themselves and the world around them in a creative and fun environment that includes hands-on, interactive exhibits.

Your Committees further find that the Center has experienced extreme hardships due to the homeless population that surrounds the perimeter of the building. The Center's financial resources are allocated for maintenance and repair issues as a result of trespassing, vandalism, and theft on the property. The safety of the children that enter and leave the Center is a concern since the areas around the Center are often unsanitary and there are reports of violence, drug dealing, crime, and other illicit behavior that goes on in the surrounding homeless encampments. Coordinated efforts by the City and State, together with social service agencies and health care providers, have not provided any long-term solution to this problem. The homeless encampments have become so detrimental to the Center and its patrons that the Center may be forced to close. This measure requests the Coordinator on Homelessness and the City and County of Honolulu to establish a task force to come up with strategies to assist individuals and families facing homelessness around the Center and protect the Center from the effects of homelessness, which would allow the Center to be the safe haven it was intended to be for children who come to the Center to learn through play.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Amending the composition of the task force to include one representative each from the Family Assessment Center, Next Step Shelter, and Kalihi Palama Health Center, if willing to serve;

(2) Making a technical amendment to its title; and

(3) 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 concur with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 62, as amended herein, and recommend that it be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means, in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 62, S.D. 1.

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

________________________________ CLARENCE K. NISHIHARA, Chair

________________________________ RUSSELL E. RUDERMAN, Chair