STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2210

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2006

RE: S.B. No. 2163

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2006

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 2163 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOUSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to add the definition of "relative caregiver" and to amend the definition of "elder or elderly household" to include the minor children for whom a grandparent or other relative is the primary caretaker.

Your Committee received testimony in support of the measure from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs; Na Tutu, Grandparents Raising Grandchildren; and three individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to the measure from the Department of Human Services, Housing and Community Development Corporation of Hawaii.

Your Committee finds that grandparents and other relatives raising minor children whose parents are unwilling or unable to do so should not be restricted from eligibility to reside in elderly public housing projects because of their caretaking role.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Adding the definition of "relative caregiver";

(2) Amending the definition of "elder" or "elderly" to be a person who is at least fifty-five years of age;

(3) Amending the definition of "elder or elderly households" to include minor children for whom a grandparent or other relative is the primary caretaker, and changing the minimum required age for household members to at least fifty-five years of age; and

(4) Adding language that provides against the impairment of federal funds.

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. 2163, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2163, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committees on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Housing and Ways and Means.

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

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair