STAND. COM. REP. NO.1249

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.C.R. No. 154

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.C.R. No. 154 entitled:

"SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE REVISION OF THE ASSISTANCE ALLOWANCE PERCENTAGE FORMULA UNDER THE TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE TO NEEDY FAMILIES PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to request the Department of Human Services, in consultation with the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, to report to the Legislature on its findings and recommendations to increase the public assistance allowance formula under the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by: the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women; National Association of Social Workers, Hawaii Chapter; Welfare Employment Rights Coalition; Honolulu Community Action Program; and three concerned citizens. The Department of Human Services submitted comments on this measure.

Your Committee finds that current financial assistance payments to Department of Human Services program recipients are inadequate to meet families' day-to-day needs. The public assistance allowance formula (used to calculate the amount of financial assistance payments) was set by the 1993 Legislature at 62.5 per cent of the 1993 Federal Poverty Level, and has not been adjusted since that time, despite regular increases in the cost of living during that ten-year period. Moreover, financial assistance benefits are further reduced by 20 per cent after the first three months to encourage recipients to work, and are limited to a total of five years. This means that a single parent with two children would receive $712 each month for the first three months, and $570 per month thereafter up to five years, to pay for necessities such as electricity, gas, water, sewer, telephone, transportation, and other essentials, such as clothing and school supplies for children.

For comparison, your Committee finds that in 2000, Hawaii's self-sufficiency standard, that is the amount of money families need to meet their basic needs (i.e., food, housing, child care, health care, transportation, taxes, and other miscellaneous expenses), for a single parent with two children living in the Palolo/Kaimuki area was $38,519 a year (about $3210/month, or $18.58/hour). The Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women has just completed a more extensive study, to be released in early April 2003, that updates the data on Hawaii's self-sufficiency standard. Your Committee believes that these studies and other relevant data about the actual amount needed for a family to be self-sufficient in Hawaii will help inform the discussion and development of policy options for revising cash assistance allowance levels.

Your Committee finds that there is clearly a need to revisit the public assistance allowance formulas to bring financial assistance payments closer to the actual cost of living in Hawaii. Your Committee believes that it would be more efficient for the Department of Human Services and others to examine current cash assistance benefit levels for all of the Department's cash assistance programs at the same time. Accordingly, it is the intent of the Legislature that the Department of Human Services include findings, cost implications, and recommendations, including proposed legislation, if any, for General Assistance, Aged, Blind, and Disabled, and Temporary Assistance to Other Needy Families (TAONF), as well as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Broadening the scope of this measure to include a review of all financial assistance programs administered by the Department of Human Services: General Assistance; Aged, Blind, and Disabled; and Temporary Assistance to Other Needy Families (TAONF), in addition to Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF);

(2) Changing the title to correspond with the broadened scope of the measure;

(3) Requiring the Department of Human Services to also work with its Financial Assistance Advisory Committee and the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations in preparing the report;

(4) Clarifying that the report should include cost implications, as well as findings and recommendations, and proposed legislation, if any, for "appropriate public policies for cash assistance programs for needy individuals and families";

(5) Transmitting certified copies to the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, and the Financial Assistance Advisory Committee under the Department of Human Services; and

(6) Making other technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 154, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as S.C.R. No. 154, S.D. 1.

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

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair