STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1921

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.C.R. No. 174

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.C.R. No. 174, H.D. 1, entitled:

"HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES' OFFICE OF YOUTH SERVICES AND JUVENILE JUSTICE STATE ADVISORY COUNCIL TO EXAMINE THE AVAILABILITY AND UTILIZATION OF AINA-BASED LEARNING PROGRAMS OFFERED TO YOUTH IN THE JUVENILE LEGAL SYSTEM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to request the Department of Human Services' Office of Youth Services and Juvenile Justice State Advisory Council to examine the availability and utilization of aina-based learning programs offered to youth in the juvenile legal system.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of the Public Defender, Opportunity for Youth Action Hawaiʻi, Nā ʻŌpio Waiwai, ʻEkolu Mea Nui, Debt Free Justice, Debt Free Justice Hawaiʻi, and one individual.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Youth Services.

Your Committee finds that youth involved in the State's juvenile justice system are frequently ordered to complete hours of community service in lieu of court costs. Your Committee further finds that the majority of available community service opportunities fail to rehabilitate, heal, or reconnect youth to their culture and the land, which increases the likelihood of intergenerational trauma and recidivism. Your Committee believes that through aina-based approaches, which are approaches grounded in teaching and learning through the Native Hawaiian concept of aina, youth can deepen their relationships with the natural environment, cultivating connections with their communities and building critical skills that can be applied to real-world issues. By requesting increased integration of cultural values and real‑world problem solving through aina-based learning, this resolution ensures that community service for youth in the State's juvenile legal system is not just a task, but a pathway to resilience, healing, and meaningful change.

Your Committee acknowledges the testimony of the Office of Youth Services that the office already continually analyzes programs and services to ensure the needs of at-risk and system‑involved youth are met, and offers aina-based cultural learning programs through contracts and collaborative partnerships at the Kawailoa Youth and Family Wellness Center. Therefore, this measure needs to be amended to acknowledge the current, on-going efforts of the office in using aina-based programs and services for youth in the juvenile justice system.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Requesting the Department of Human Services' Office of Youth Services and Juvenile Justice State Advisory Council to continue the use of aina-based learning programs offered to youth in the juvenile legal system, rather than to examine the availability and utilization of aina-based learning programs;

(2) Inserting language to clarify that Hawaii has been using aina-based approaches with collaborative partnerships at the Kawailoa Youth and Family Wellness Center;

(3) Amending its title accordingly; and

(4) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments 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 concurs with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 174, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as H.C.R. No. 174, H.D. 1, S.D. 1.

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

________________________________

JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair