STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2407
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: S.B. No. 2370
S.D. 1
Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi
President of the Senate
Thirty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2022
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Human Services and Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 2370 entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOMELESSNESS,"
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to:
(1) Establish the Office of Homelessness and Housing Solutions within the Department of Budget and Finance, to be headed by the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness;
(2) Establish the Homelessness and Housing Solutions Special Fund within the State Treasury;
(3) Appropriate $2,000,000 out of general fund revenues to be deposited into the Homelessness and Housing Solutions Special Fund; and
(4) Appropriate $2,000,000 out of the Homelessness and Housing Solutions Special Fund to be expended by the Department of Budget and Finance for the administration of the Office of Homelessness and Housing Solutions.
Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Public Safety, Office of the Public Defender, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, Free Access Coalition, St. Michael the Archangel Church, Aloha Hawaii Onipaa Org, and nine individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness, Department of Budget and Finance, and Department of Human Services.
Your Committees find that Hawaii has one of the highest homelessness per capita rates in the nation. Your Committees also find that the task of addressing homelessness in the State requires a long-term commitment with a great amount of collaboration and coordination among diverse government entities and private organizations. Your Committees acknowledge that in 2012, the Legislature established the Hawaii Interagency Council on Homelessness to serve as the statewide homelessness planning and policy development entity. That year, the council, chaired by the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness, adopted a ten-year statewide plan to address homelessness in Hawaii. Your Committees find that, despite solutions to homelessness requiring a long-term commitment, the position of the Coordinator is currently funded as part of a special project under the Department of Human Services and the full-time staff of four are not permanent employees. Your Committees also recognize that year-to-year funding for programs, as opposed to stable funding in the base budget of an agency, creates uncertainty for staff to continue performance of their duties and responsibilities. This measure will create a central agency--the Office of Homelessness and Housing Solutions headed by the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness--and a special fund for the Office to spearhead greater collaboration and coordination among various state and county agencies and private organizations to continue to develop and implement effective initiatives to address homelessness in Hawaii.
Your Committees note the testimony from multiple parties that coordination among state and county departments and the permanent staffing and authority of the Office of Homelessness and Housing Solutions are critical. The Department of Human Services testified, however, that the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness, Coordinator's staff, and Hawaii Interagency Council on Homelessness are currently located within the Department, and given the considerable time and resources required to transfer their functions and staffing to the Department of Budget and Finance, recommended that the Office of Homelessness and Housing Solutions be established as an administratively attached agency to the Department of Human Services, rather than the Department of Budget and Finance, to ensure its independence and authority as provided in this measure.
Your Committees also note testimony from the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness suggesting that disbursements from the Homelessness and Housing Solutions Special Fund to public and private agencies involved in homelessness and housing solutions should be in accordance with chapter 103F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which governs purchases of health and human services, rather than chapter 42F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, which governs grants.
Accordingly, your
Committees have amended this measure by:
(1) Establishing
the Office of Homelessness and Housing Solutions within the Department of
Human Services rather than the Department of Budget and Finance;
(2) Clarifying
that disbursements from the Homelessness and Housing Solutions Special Fund to
public and private agencies involved in homelessness and housing solutions be
in accordance with chapter 103F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, rather than chapter
42F, Hawaii Revised Statutes; 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 Government Operations that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2370, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2370, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Human Services and Government Operations,
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________________________________ SHARON MORIWAKI, Chair |
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________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair |
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