STAND. COM. REP. NO. 779

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 866

       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 Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 866 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION TO SUPPORT THE AFTER-SCHOOL PLUS PROGRAM,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to support the After-School Plus (A+) Program.

 

     More specifically, this measure appropriates moneys to:

 

(1)  Enhance and improve the content of the After-School Plus (A+) Program;

 

(2)  Develop and implement professional development training for program staff and an evaluation system; and

 

(3)  Alleviate the financial burden of families whose children attend After-School Plus (A+) Programs.

 

     Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services, YMCA of Honolulu, Hawaii Afterschool Alliance, Hui for Excellence in Education Coalition, Moiliili Community Center, Kahoomiki, and two individuals.

 

     Your Committee finds that for over twenty-five years, the After-School Plus (A+) Program has provided an avenue for keeping upwards of twenty thousand children in a safe and nurturing environment after school until their families return home to care for them.  However, the After-School Plus (A+) Program has received less State support in recent years due to the economic recession that began in 2008.

 

Your Committee also finds that the cost of tuition for one child in the After-School Plus (A+) Program has risen $60 since the Program's inception.  This increase has been a burden on many Hawaii families enrolled in the program.  Additionally, the increased State minimum wage will result in increased operating costs for the After-School Plus (A+) Program.  Your Committee finds that the After-School Plus (A+) Program should be adequately funded so that it may continue to serve Hawaii's children and their families.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

(1)  Changing the means of financing for the appropriation from general funds to the after-school plus (A+) program revolving fund;

 

(2)  Changing the amount of the appropriation from $6,000,000 to $1,000,000;

 

(3)  Adding a provision requiring the Department of Education to submit a report to the Legislature detailing the efforts of the Department to address how increases in the state minimum wage will affect the After-School Plus (A+) Program, and any proposals to assist families struggling with the tuition costs of the After-School Plus (A+) Program; and

 

(4)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 866, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 866, S.D. 1.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

 

 

 

________________________________

JILL N. TOKUDA, Chair