STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3031
Honolulu, Hawaii
RE: S.B. No. 2370
S.D. 2
Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi
President of the Senate
Thirty-First State Legislature
Regular Session of 2022
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2370, S.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOMELESSNESS,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose and intent of this measure is to provide for the development of solutions to prevent and end homelessness in the State.
More specifically, this measure:
(1) Establishes within the Department of Human Services the Office on Homelessness and Housing Solutions to work with various stakeholders to develop and test solutions to prevent and end homelessness;
(2) Requires the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness to serve as the head of the Office on Homelessness and Housing Solutions;
(3) Establishes the duties and responsibilities of the Office on Homelessness and Housing Solutions;
(4) Requires the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness to submit to the Legislature an annual report on the progress of the Coordinator's activities;
(5) Establishes the homelessness and housing solutions special fund; and
(6) Appropriates moneys for the administration of the Office of Homelessness and Housing Solutions.
Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Public Safety, Judiciary, Office of the Public Defender, Department of the Prosecuting Attorney of the City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii Health and Harm Reduction Center, Institute for Human Services, and two individuals.
Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance, Department of Human Services, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness, and Partners In Care.
Your Committee finds that establishing a permanent Office on Homelessness and Housing Solutions will help the State to reduce, prevent, and ultimately end homelessness.
Your Committee notes that the Department of Human Services' written comments on this measure clarify a misstatement regarding the Department's testimony included in Standing Committee Report No. 2407. According to the Department, "[t]he Department's testimony did not recommend creating an administratively attached agency within the Department, as the Coordinator and the [Hawaii Interagency Council on Homelessness] are already administratively attached within the Department per section 346-381, Hawaii Revised Statutes."
Your Committee has amended this measure by:
(1) Clarifying that the Office on Homelessness and Housing Solutions is required to identify and address gaps in the homeless service system by, among other things, developing and implementing tax exemptions for certain facilities and projects;
(2) Clarifying the required contents of the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness' annual report to the Legislature;
(3) Requiring that each state agency that administers public lands provide the Governor's Coordinator on Homelessness with an inventory identifying available vacant public lands;
(4) Clarifying that the moneys appropriated into the homelessness and housing solutions special fund are in addition to, and do not supplant, any portion of the budget used to fund the ohana zones pilot program or housing first program;
(5) Changing the amount appropriated into and out of the homelessness and housing solutions special fund from $2,000,000 to an unspecified sum;
(6) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and
(7) 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. 2370, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2370, S.D. 2.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,
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________________________________ DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair |
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