STAND. COM. REP. NO. 560

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1398

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 S.B. No. 1398 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Direct the Office of Wellness and Resilience to collaborate with the Department of Human Services to, either directly or by contract, design, administer, and implement a program for trauma-informed organizational assessments and a training curriculum for the Child Welfare Services Branch of the Department of Human Services; and

(2) Appropriate funds.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, Office of Wellness and Resilience, Hawaiʻi Primary Care Association, Hawaiʻi Youth Services Network, Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition, Mālama ʻOhana Working Group, Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center, HI H.O.P.E.S Initiative, and two individuals.

Your Committee finds that children and families who are referred to the Child Welfare Services Branch (CSWB) of the Department of Human Services undergo a significant amount of trauma. Your Committee further finds that the Mālama ʻOhana Working Group, created by Act 86, Session Laws of Hawaii 2023, has submitted a report to the Legislature that provides recommendations to create transformative changes to the State's existing child welfare system, including having all CWSB staff receive comprehensive trauma-informed care training as part of developing a trauma-informed system. This measure promotes a collaborative approach to examine and transform CWSB's practices and policies to align with the recommendations of the Mālama ʻOhana Working Group, especially the recommendation that CWSB adopt a trauma-informed approach to providing vital and essential services to children and families involved in the child welfare system.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the appropriation to an unspecified amount;

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

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

Your Committee notes that this measure, as amended, contains an unspecified appropriation amount. Should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committee respectfully requests that it consider inserting an appropriation amount of $425,000 for the Office of Wellness and Resilience to design, administer, and implement a trauma-informed care training and organizational assessment program for the Child Welfare Services Branch of the Department of Human Services, either directly or by contract.

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 S.B. No. 1398, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1398, 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