REPORT TITLE:
Child Placing Organizations


DESCRIPTION:
Exempts nonprofit child placing organizations from financial
audits. (HB1568 HD1)

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                        1568
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO CHILD PLACING ORGANIZATIONS.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  Children are a precious resource, and the State
 
 2 takes seriously its responsibility to oversee child placing
 
 3 organizations and institutions and foster homes.  However,
 
 4 sometimes regulation can lead to inadvertent overregulation,
 
 5 which stifles initiative in the private sector.  While most child
 
 6 placing organizations are for-profit institutions, some are
 
 7 nonprofits with volunteer staff, who do their work for the
 
 8 children on a shoestring budget.  State administrative rules
 
 9 require for-profits and nonprofits alike to meet the same
 
10 standards of character and quality, but they are also both
 
11 required to meet the same financial requirement of an annual or
 
12 biennial audit. This is a severe hardship on nonprofit child
 
13 placing agencies.
 
14      The purpose of this Act is to exempt nonprofit child placing
 
15 organizations and institutions from having to undergo financial
 
16 audits.
 
17      SECTION 2.  Section 346-17, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 
18 amended to read as follows:
 

 
Page 2                                                     1568
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      "�346-17  Child placing organizations, child caring
 
 2 institutions, and foster boarding homes; authority over and
 
 3 investigation of.  No child placing organization shall engage in
 
 4 the investigation, placement, and supervision of minor children
 
 5 in foster care unless it meets with the standards of conditions,
 
 6 management, and competence set by the department of human
 
 7 services[.]; provided that the department may require a nonprofit
 
 8 child placing organization having gross revenues of less than
 
 9 $50,000 per year to produce financial records for review by the
 
10 department of commerce and consumer affairs as a condition of its
 
11 certification or renewal.
 
12      No child caring institution shall be allowed to receive
 
13 minor children for care and maintenance unless it meets with the
 
14 standards of conditions, management, and competence to care for
 
15 and train children set by the department[.]; provided that the
 
16 department may require a nonprofit child placing institution
 
17 having gross revenues of less than $50,000 per year to produce
 
18 financial records for review by the department of commerce and
 
19 consumer affairs as a condition of its certification or renewal.
 
20      No foster boarding home shall receive for care and
 
21 maintenance any child unless it meets with the standards of
 
22 conditions, management, and competence set by the department.
 

 
 
 
Page 3                                                     1568
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1      The department shall make rules relating to:
 
 2      (1)  [standards] Standards for the organization and
 
 3           administration of child placing organizations[,]
 
 4      (2)  [standards] Standards of conditions, management, and
 
 5           competence for the care and training of minor children
 
 6           in child caring institutions[,]; and
 
 7      (3)  [standards] Standards of conditions and competence of
 
 8           operation of foster boarding homes as may be necessary
 
 9           to protect the welfare of children.
 
10      All rules of the department shall have the force and effect
 
11 of law, and any violation thereof or of this section shall be
 
12 punishable by a fine of not more than $200.
 
13      As a condition for a certificate of approval, any
 
14 organization, institution, or home shall meet the standards to
 
15 assure the reputable and responsible character of its operators
 
16 and employees by complying with the requirements of a criminal
 
17 history record check under section 346-19.6.
 
18      Upon approval of any such organization, institution, or
 
19 home, the department or its authorized agents shall issue a
 
20 certificate of approval which shall continue in force for one
 
21 year or for two years if the organization, institution, or home
 
22 meets the criteria established by the department, unless sooner
 
23 revoked for cause.  The certificate shall be renewed by the
 

 
Page 4                                                     1568
                                     H.B. NO.           H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1 department or its authorized agents, after annual or biennial
 
 2 investigation, if the investigation discloses that the
 
 3 organization, institution, or home continues to meet with the
 
 4 standards set by the department.  The certificate of approval
 
 5 shall be a permit to operate the child placing organization,
 
 6 child caring institution, or foster boarding home, and no person
 
 7 or organization shall operate or maintain such organization,
 
 8 institution, or home without the certificate.
 
 9      Any child placing organization, child caring institution, or
 
10 foster boarding home shall be subject to investigation at any
 
11 time and in such manner, place, and form as may be prescribed by
 
12 the department or its authorized agents."
 
13      SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
14 New statutory material is underscored.
 
15      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.