STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1978

                                 Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                   , 1999

                                 RE: S.C.R. No. 199
                                     H.D. 1




Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Human Services and Housing, to which was
referred S.C.R. No. 199 entitled:

     "SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING THE UNITED STATES
     CONGRESS, THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND THE
     SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES TO SUPPORT THE HAWAII
     CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION'S EFFORT TO AMEND THE SOCIAL
     SECURITY ACT TO INCREASE HAWAII'S FEDERAL MEDICAL ASSISTANCE
     PERCENTAGE (FMAP),"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to urge Congress, the
President of the United States, and the Secretary of Health and
Human Services to support federal legislation to amend the Social
Security Act to increase Hawaii's federal medical assistance
percentage in consideration of the State's high cost of living.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure
from the Department of Accounting and General Services and the
Hawaii Long Term Care Association.

     Despite the importance of this measure to the people of
Hawaii and the strong support for it voiced by the Department of
Accounting and General Services and the Hawaii Long Term Care
Association, your Committee has amended this measure to express
its support for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, United
States, and Hawaii-based military and humanitarian efforts to

 
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                                 STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1978
                                 Page 2

 
ensure the safety and well-being of children and families in
Kosovo.

     Your Committee finds it impossible to comprehend the wanton
brutality and savagery of the systematic war being waged by
Serbian military and paramilitary forces against the civilian,
ethnic Albanian population of Kosovo.  The looting and burning of
homes and villages, and the murdering and raping of civilians, is
overshadowed only by the "ethnic cleansing" that has forced
thousands of women, children, and infants to evacuate in the cold
and rain without food or rest and with only the clothes on their
backs as their only alternative to death.  The lack of food,
shelter, clothing, and safety is exacting a horrendous toll on
children and infants, who are dying of starvation, hypothermia,
and disease, and suffering incalculable emotional pain as their
fathers, brothers, and uncles are herded away and murdered before
their eyes.  All armed conflict and hostilities in the Kosovo
region must come to a quick end for the sake of these children
and families.

     Your Committee wishes to express its love and prayers for
ethnic Albanian children and families in Kosovo and in refugee
camps in neighboring countries and Macedonia; and to express its
hopes and prayers for a quick end to all armed conflict and
hostilities in the Kosovo region for the sake of these children
and families.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Human Services and Housing that is attached to this
report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of
S.C.R. No. 199, as amended herein, and recommends that it be
referred to the Committee on Finance, in the form attached hereto
as S.C.R. No. 199, H.D. 1.

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



                                   ______________________________
                                   DENNIS A. ARAKAKI, Chair

 
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