STAND. COM. REP. NO.54

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 980

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 S.B. No. 980 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN APPROPRIATION FOR THE NEEDS AND RIGHTS OF CHILDREN,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to make an appropriation to provide legal services to children to protect their needs and rights.

Testimony in support of this measure was received from Na Keiki Law Center of the Volunteer Legal Services Hawaii, Hawaii Family Forum, Keiki Injury Prevention Coalition, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, Aloha Pregnancy Care & Counseling Centers, Legal Aid Society of Hawaii, and six individuals.

Your Committee finds that the State needs to provide legal representation and advocacy for children whose legal rights are not being protected. These children are usually without parents or are not being cared for properly, and include children of drug addicted parents or victims of domestic violence. Legal services can place them into safe, legal guardianships with relatives or family friends. Such placement would avoid the costs typically incurred with the commencement of a child protective service case, including attorneys’ fees for the parents and the minor, and the time spent by social workers, the Attorney General's office, and the Judiciary.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that Na Keiki Law Center is a project of Volunteer Legal Services of Hawaii; and

(2) Rewording the appropriation section to state that the moneys are to be used to fund legal services for children rather than to the Na Keiki Law Center, in order to be more inclusive of other organizations providing similar services.

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 S.B. No. 980, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 980, 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