STAND. COM. REP. NO. 536

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 1399

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. 1399 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO FAMILY RESILIENCE PILOT PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Establish a five-year Family Resilience Pilot Program within the Office of Wellness and Resilience; and

(2) Appropriate funds to execute the Program, including the contracting of services.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, Office of Wellness and Resilience, Hawaiʻi Youth Services Network, Mālama ʻOhana Working Group, Hawaiʻi Health & Harm Reduction Center, National Center for Youth Law, and one individual.

Your Committee finds that more programs and resources are necessary to increase family resilience and reduce the risk of child abuse or neglect. Your Committee further finds that many families at high-risk of entering the child welfare system are unaware of available services or how to access them. Your Committee additionally finds that community- and school-based organizations are safe, accessible, and non-judgmental spaces where families can access formal and informal supports and referrals and that these organizations have been successful in reducing the number of families reported to the child welfare system. The Family Resilience Pilot Program as proposed in this measure provides a preventative, supportive space that keeps Hawaii's families stable, reduces reliance on government agencies, and offers accessible, community-driven solutions to family challenges.

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 $987,150 for the implementation of the Family Resilience Pilot Program, including the contracting of services to implement the Program.

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. 1399, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1399, 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