STAND. COM. REP. NO.1081

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 668

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 668 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HUMAN SERVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for activities relating to the delinking of welfare and medical assistance programs.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by Hale Mahaolu and the Hawaii Primary Care Association. The Department of Human Services submitted testimony in support of the intent of this measure.

Your Committee finds that the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 delinked the Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF) and Medicaid eligibility. Prior to 1996, anyone who was eligible for TANF was automatically eligible for Medicaid. With the delink, however, the federal government believed that recipients who lost their TANF benefits after the statutory maximum five-year benefit period ended, would not be aware that they might still be eligible to receive Medicaid. Therefore, the Federal government provided funds to publicize the fact that a person might still qualify for Medicaid even if ineligible for TANF. Federal funds are available at an enhanced matching rate of 75% or 90% (compared to the regular match rate of about 58%), but must be used only for purposes related to the delinking.

Your Committee further finds that Hale Mahaolu is a non-profit organization that has been providing affordable rental units and social services programs for disabled and chronically ill frail adults and elders in Maui County for thirty-two years. In 1985, Hale Mahaolu established the personal care program to provide income-eligible disabled or chronically ill frail adults and elders on the islands of Maui, Molokai, and Lanai, with financial assistance for in-home personal care attendant services at a significantly lower cost than nursing home care, thereby maximizing limited federal and state resources for medical assistance. Hale Mahaolu entered into a four-year contract with the Department of Human Services to provide personal care services in Maui County in 2002, based on representations that funding would be maintained at a certain level for each of the four years of the contract. Hale Mahaolu has just recently been informed by the Department of Human Services that the contract amount for the last two years of the contract would be reduced by $90,000. This reduction means that the personal care services program would have to be cut, resulting in a waiting list for services. Accordingly, Hale Mahaolu is seeking a $90,000 grant-in-aid from the State in order to maintain the personal care services program at current levels.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting the words "The QUEST rolls have decreased and," on page 1, line 12, for accuracy as noted in the Department of Human Services' testimony; and

(2) Adding a new part to the measure and appropriating $90,000 in each of fiscal years 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 for a grant-in-aid to Hale Mahaolu for the personal care program for disabled or chronically ill frail adults and elders residing in Maui county.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 668, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 668, 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,

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair