STAND. COM. REP. NO. 6

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2025

RE: H.B. No. 900

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. 900 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILD WELFARE SERVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to establish and appropriate funds for a working group to improve family court processes, including access to legal representation for youth in the child welfare system.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Wellness and Resilience; Judiciary; Mālama ‘Ohana Working Group; Hawai‘i Children's Action Network Speaks!; Hawaii Coalition for Child Protective Reform; and five individuals.

Your Committee finds that the Malama Ohana Working Group established by Act 86, Session Laws of Hawaii 2023, was tasked with recommending transformative changes to the State's existing child welfare system. Among the many recommendations of the working group was to strengthen the family court process for child welfare cases. Because the problems faced by children and families in the State's child welfare system are complex, the State must continue to work with the community and various stakeholders, including parents and children with lived experience in the child welfare system, to determine where necessary improvements to the family court process can be made.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying the duties of the working group related to site visits to selected jurisdictions in other states to identify possible practices to implement in Hawaii;

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

(3) 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. 900, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 900, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs.

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

____________________________

LISA MARTEN, Chair