STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2447

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2891

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2020

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2891 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO OFFICE OF YOUTH SERVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to permit individual vocational programs within the purview of the Office of Youth Services to engage in commercial enterprises, including the sale of goods and services, for self-sustainability purposes, for young adults only, by establishing and appropriation of funds for the Office of Youth Services Revolving Fund.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services; Office of Youth Services; Partners in Development Foundation; Kinai ‘Eha; Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, Inc.; Community Alliance on Prisons; Blueprint for Change; Hale Kipa; and two individuals.

Your Committee finds over 15,000 young adults ages eighteen through twenty-four in Hawaii are neither employed nor in school, resulting in a life-time state expenditure of $6.5 billion in lost wages and costs. Your Committee further finds that the Office of Youth Services provides vocational training services for young adults in a self-sustaining fashion and allows individual vocational programs under the jurisdiction of the Office of Youth Services to engage in commercial enterprises that are related to their primary educational purpose.

Your Committee notes that this measure will enhance the rigor and relevance of workbased learning as young adults engage in comprehensive, real-world, immersive experiences. Your Committee further notes that allowing the Office of Youth Services to expand and support the career programs by providing that proceeds from the sale of products and services be deposited back into the Office of Youth Services revolving fund is a crucial component of being able to sustain, support, and expand the vocational programs that are geared to improving the employment and productive citizenship status of young adults.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2891 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

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RUSSELL E. RUDERMAN, Chair