STAND. COM. REP. NO. 199

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1203

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Labor and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1203 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO COMMUNITY SERVICE,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to require the Office of Community Services to establish a mandatory community service program by January 1, 2012, for all Hawaii residents between the ages of sixteen and twenty.

 

     Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by one organization and two individuals.  Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by one individual.  The Office of Community Services supported the intent of this measure.  Written testimony presented to your Committees may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committees consider community service to be an honor, especially in Hawaii where residents have a strong sense of helping others and particularly during times of economic hardship.

 

     Your Committees find that the mandatory community service program proposed in this measure would encourage active participation in communities, give youth a vested interest in the future of the State, offer economic incentives to Hawaii's students, and provide a benefit to Hawaii's youth that they might choose to otherwise forgo, not realizing until later the benefit of community service.

 

     Your Committees note the concern of the Office of Community Services that a mandatory community service program for youth may not be an appropriate responsibility for the Office of Community Services, given its duties under current laws.

 

     Your Committees also note the comment that a voluntary community service program with appropriate incentives might better effectuate the intent of this measure, and find that this measure is a work in progress that may serve as a framework to revive community service in Hawaii.

 

     Your Committees find that further discussion, facilitated by the Office of Community Services, is necessary to determine additional information, appropriate resources, and recommended legislation to implement an effective community service program.

 

     Your Committees have accordingly amended this measure as follows:

 

     (1)  By amending the effective date to July 1, 2050, for the purpose of encouraging further discussion; and

 

     (2)  By making technical, nonsubstantive changes to correct typographical errors and for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Labor and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1203, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1203, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Labor and Human Services,

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

 

____________________________

DWIGHT Y. TAKAMINE, Chair