STAND. COM. REP. NO. 312

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 192

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Human Services and Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 192 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO IDENTIFICATION CARDS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to assist homeless persons with obtaining an identification card by requiring administrative rules adopted by the Director of Transportation to authorize the examiner of drivers to waive the fee for the issuance of a civil identification card in certain cases for a person who is homeless, provided the person's homeless status is verified with a letter from a homeless services provider.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Transportation, Hawaii Interagency Council on Homelessness, Institute for Human Services, Catholic Charities Hawaii, Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice, IMUAlliance, PHOCUSED, Gregory House Programs, Community Health Outreach Work to Prevent AIDS Project, Waikiki Health, Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery, Hawaii State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and seven individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that Hawaii has the highest rate of homelessness in the country, and a lack of identification can prolong the amount of time an individual or family is without shelter.  Your Committee further finds that waiving the fee for homeless individuals to obtain an identification card will help expedite their access to housing and employment by removing at least one barrier that stands in the way of receiving services and moving forward with their lives.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Amending language to clarify that the rules shall direct the examiner of drivers to waive the fee for a new or renewal identification card for homeless persons who provide a verified letter from a homeless services provider;

 

     (2)  Inserting language to require that homeless services providers who submit official letters verifying an individual's homeless status for the purpose of obtaining an identification card shall allow the homeless individual to use the homeless service provider's address to the extent required by federal law;

 

     (3)  Inserting a provision mandating the collection of data that pertains to instances in which the identification card fee is waived due to a person's homeless status;

 

     (4)  Inserting an effective date of January 5, 2016, to allow for implementation; and

 

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

 

     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 is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 192, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 192, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair