STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1191

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 244

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 244, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds for the Department of Human Services to collaborate with contracted community-based organizations to address the need for social services in the State.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Parents and Children Together; Hawaiʻi State Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Community Alliance on Prisons; Hawaiʻi Youth Services Network; Hawaiʻi Children's Action Network Speaks!; Child & Family Service; Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center; Hawaiʻi Food Bank; AlohaCare; Kumukahi Health + Wellness; Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition; Easterseals Hawaii; Hale Kipa, Inc.; YWCA of Kauaʻi; Hawaiʻi Public Health Institute; Hawaiʻi True Cost Coalition; Aloha United Way; Catholic Charities Hawaiʻi; Epic ʻOhana; Goodwill Hawaii; Lanakila Pacific; The Institute for Human Services, Inc.; The Mediation Center of the Pacific, Inc.; Maui Economic Opportunity, Inc.; Partners Development Foundation; Responsive Caregivers of Hawaii; Samaritan Counseling Center Hawaii; Spirit Horse Ranch; Hawaiʻi Alliance of Nonprofit Organizations; YMCA of Honolulu; Share Your Mana; Adult Friends for Youth; Hawaiʻi Community Foundation; and ten individuals.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services and one individual.

Your Committee finds that community-based organizations are vital partners in delivering critical services on behalf of the Department of Human Services, and by strengthening collaborations with service providers, the Department of Human Services can enhance program delivery and improve access to essential services, such as administering benefits, providing work-training and employment support, strengthening child care programs, addressing homelessness, and reducing the harmful effects of a punitive incarceration system, for individuals in need. Your Committee further finds that the Department of Human Services contracts with community-based organizations to provide critical services, but contract rates have not increased for many years and fail to cover full program costs. Your Committee acknowledges that if the gap between funding levels and demand for services is not mitigated by increased state funding, community-based organizations will have to decline contracts or reduce the amount of services provided, despite the community need. This measure provides funding for the Department of Human Services to continue to collaborate with contracted community-based organizations to improve access to benefits, childcare, workforce training, and homelessness services while promoting stability and well-being in the State's communities.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of December 31, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health and Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 244, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 244, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair