STAND. COM. REP. NO. 256

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 646

H.D. 1

Honorable Nadine K. Nakamura

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2025

State of Hawaii

Madame:

Your Committee on Human Services & Homelessness, to which was referred H.B. No. 646 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require the Department of Human Services to automatically enroll, or authorize the Social Security Administration to automatically enroll, in the State's Medicaid program any individual in the State who receives federal Supplemental Security Income benefits.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the State Council on Developmental Disabilities. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services.

Your Committee finds that the federal Supplemental Security Income Program provides critical financial support to individuals with disabilities and older adults who have little or no income, yet Hawaii does not automatically enroll Supplemental Security Income recipients into the State's Medicaid program. Unlike several other states where Supplemental Security Income recipients are seamlessly enrolled based on Social Security Administration notification, Hawaii requires a separate Medicaid application, which creates unnecessary barriers to health care access and can deter some individuals from applying altogether. To streamline access to health care, reduce administrative burdens, and encourage greater Medicaid participation rates, this measure requires the State to automatically enroll Supplemental Security Income Program participants in Medicaid, ensuring that vulnerable residents receive the medical coverage they need without delay.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 3000, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services & Homelessness that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 646, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 646, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

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

____________________________

LISA MARTEN, Chair