STAND. COM. REP. NO.1364

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: H.B. No. 668

S.D. 2

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred H.B. No. 668, S.D. 1, 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 and to appropriate a grant of $90,000 in each of fiscal years 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 to Hale Mahaolu for the personal care program for disabled or chronically ill frail adults and elders residing in Maui county.

Your Committee finds that the Welfare Reform Act of 1996 delinked the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families and Medicaid eligibility. Prior to 1996, anyone who was eligible for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families was automatically eligible for Medicaid. With delinking, however, the federal government believed that recipients who lost their Temporary Assistance to Needy Families benefits after the statutory maximum five-year benefit period ended would be unaware 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. Federal funds are available at enhanced matching rates but must be used only for purposes related to the delinking.

In addition, your Committee finds that Hale Mahaolu, a non-profit organization, has established a 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.

Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this measure by inserting technical language specifying that the appropriation made to Hale Mahaolu is made from the emergency and budget reserve fund and is a grant pursuant to chapter 42F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, and by deleting the second fiscal year appropriation. Accordingly, the section appropriating funds for Hale Mahaolu has been renumbered and placed within Part II of the bill.

Your Committee also amended this bill by adding language to make appropriations from the emergency and budget reserve fund for fiscal year 2003-2004 for the following:

(1) $200,000, as a grant, to provide treatment services for child victims of intrafamilial sexual abuse, including psychological treatment and case management services for child victims and their families who are not covered under the child protective services system of the department of human services;

(2) $150,000 for forensic medical examinations of children in foster custody placements;

(3) $100,000, as a grant, for the Hawaii Youth Services Network for its Transitional Living Program for Unserved Street Youth;

(4) $200,000 for substance abuse services for youth and adolescents, including but not limited to, preventive services, school education programs, counseling, evaluation, treatment, therapy, family services, case management, recovery services, and residential substance abuse treatment services, and the coordination of such services;

(5) $2,200,000 for the residential alternative community care program;

(6) $200,000 for the chore services program;

(7) $200,000, as a grant, for the Bridge to Hope program, including one position for outreach;

(8) $100,000 to fund legal services to children;

(9) $100,000, as a grant, to fund the continuation of the Kaneohe Community Family Center's core services;

(10) $100,000, as a grant, to fund the continuation of the Kuhio Park Terrace Family Center's core services;

(11) $350,000 for the operation of the Waipahu Community Adult Day Health Center and Youth Day Care Center pilot project;

(12) $300,000, as a grant, for the Good Beginnings Alliance to carry out its statutory responsibilities; and

(13) $421,000 for the delivery of diversion services and child protective services to target families, including the establishment of additional sites for neighborhood places (Blueprint for Change).

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 H.B. No. 668, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 668, S.D. 2.

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

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair