Report Title:

Human Services; Self-Sufficiency Standard

 

Description:

Requires the Department of Human Services (DHS) to apply a self-sufficiency standard, to be established and updated annually by the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to determine the amount of assistance allowance.  Defines self-sufficiency standard.  Requires DHS to submit annual reports to the Legislature.  (HB102 HD1)

 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

102

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

RELATING TO HUMAN SERVICES.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the self-sufficiency standard is the actual amount needed to afford minimum basic needs such as food, housing, and healthcare.  The legislature also finds that the self-sufficiency standard is a more realistic guide for evaluating programs, designing new policies, and setting benchmarks for measuring economic success for the State of Hawaii.

     In 2003, the commission on the status of women funded a report, The Self-Sufficiency Report for Hawaii, which provided an in-depth study of the actual cost to live in Hawaii in nine communities throughout the state.  The self-sufficiency standards in this study ranged from double to triple the federal poverty guidelines.

     The purpose of this Act is to establish a self-sufficiency standard, to be updated annually, to be used to determine the level of public assistance.

     SECTION 2.  Section 201-3, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§201-3  Specific research and promotional functions of the department.  Without prejudice to its general functions and duties the department of business, economic development, and tourism shall have specific functions in the following areas:

     (1)  Industrial development.  The department shall determine through technical and economic surveys the profit potential of new or expanded industrial undertakings; develop through research projects and other means new and improved industrial products and processes; promote studies and surveys to determine consumer preference as to design and quality and to determine the best methods of packaging, transporting, and marketing the State's industrial products; disseminate information to assist the present industries of the State, to attract new industries to the State, and to encourage capital investment in present and new industries in the State; assist associations of producers and distributors of industrial products to introduce [such] these products to consumers; and make [such] grants or contracts as may be necessary or advisable to accomplish the foregoing;

     (2)  Land development.  The department shall encourage the most productive use of all land in the State in accordance with a general plan developed by the department; encourage the improvement of land tenure practices on leased private lands; promote an informational program directed to landowners, producers of agricultural and industrial commodities, and the general public regarding the most efficient and most productive use of the lands in the State; and make [such] grants or contracts as may be necessary or advisable to accomplish the foregoing;

     (3)  Credit development.  The department shall conduct a continuing study of agricultural and industrial credit needs; encourage the development of additional private and public credit sources for agricultural and industrial enterprises; promote an informational program to acquaint financial institutions with agricultural and industrial credit needs and the potential for agricultural and industrial expansion, and inform producers of agricultural and industrial products as to the manner in which to qualify for loans; and make [such] grants or contracts as may be necessary or advisable to accomplish the foregoing;

     (4)  Promotion.  The department shall disseminate information developed for or by the department pertaining to economic development to assist present industry in the State, attract new industry and investments to the State, and assist new and emerging industry with good growth potential or prospects in jobs, exports, and new products.  The industrial and economic promotional activities of the department may include the use of literature, advertising, demonstrations, displays, market testing, lectures, travel, motion picture and slide films, and [such] other promotional and publicity devices as may be appropriate; [and]

     (5)  Tourism research and statistics.  The department shall maintain a program of research and statistics for the purpose of:

         (A)  Measuring and analyzing tourism trends;

         (B)  Providing information and research to assist in the development and implementation of state tourism policy;

         (C)  Encouraging and arranging for the conduct of tourism research and information development through voluntary means or through contractual services with qualified agencies, firms, or persons; and

         (D)  Providing tourism information to policy makers, the public, and the visitor industry.  This includes:

              (i)  Collecting and publishing visitor-related data including visitor arrivals, visitor characteristics and expenditures;

             (ii)  Collecting and publishing hotel-related statistics including the number of units available, occupancy rates, and room rates;

            (iii)  Collecting and publishing airline-related data including seat capacity and number of flights;

             (iv)  Collecting information and conducting analyses of the economic, social, and physical impacts of tourism on the State;

              (v)  Conducting periodic studies of the impact of ongoing marketing programs of the Hawaii tourism authority on Hawaii's tourism industry, employment in Hawaii, state taxes, and the State's lesser known and underutilized destinations; and

             (vi)  Cooperate with the Hawaii tourism authority and provide it with the above information in a timely manner[.];

          and

     (6)  Self-sufficiency standard.  The department shall establish annually the self-sufficiency standard that is the absolute minimum amount required to be expended in Hawaii on the costs of housing, food, childcare, transportation, healthcare, all taxes, and other expenses such as clothing, shoes, utilities, and household items.  The standard shall be based on existing models.  The self-sufficiency standard shall be used by the department of human services in determining the assistance allowance under section 346-53, and may otherwise be used as an economic barometer of the State's economic development and related issues.

     The department shall be the central agency to coordinate film permit activities in the State."

     SECTION 3.  Section 346-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending the definition of "assistance allowance" to read as follows:

     ""Assistance allowance" means a single monthly public assistance grant, including funds received from the federal government, expressed in a dollar amount per recipient or per recipient family to be provided a recipient or recipient family for all usual and absolute minimum recurring living and shelter expenses, including rent or mortgage payment and utilities[, and excluding medical care]."

     SECTION 4.  Section 346-14, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

     "§346-14  Duties generally.  Except as otherwise provided by law, the department of human services shall:

     (1)  Establish and administer programs and standards, and adopt rules as deemed necessary for all public assistance programs;

     (2)  Establish, extend, and strengthen services for the protection and care of abused or neglected children and children in danger of becoming delinquent to make paramount the safety and health of children who have been harmed or are in life circumstances that threaten harm;

     (3)  Establish and administer programs, and adopt rules as deemed necessary, for the prevention of domestic and sexual violence and the protection and treatment of victims of domestic and sexual violence;

     (4)  Assist in preventing family breakdown;

     (5)  Place, or cooperate in placing, abused or neglected children in suitable private homes or institutions and place, or cooperate in placing, children in suitable adoptive homes;

     (6)  Have authority to establish, maintain, and operate receiving homes for the temporary care and custody of abused or neglected children until suitable plans are made for their care; and accept from the police and other agencies, for temporary care and custody, any abused or neglected child until satisfactory plans are made for the child;

     (7)  Administer the medical assistance programs for eligible public welfare and other medically needy individuals by establishing standards, eligibility, and health care participation rules, payment methodologies, reimbursement allowances, systems to monitor recipient and provider compliance, and assuring compliance with federal requirements to maximize federal financial participation;

     (8)  Cooperate with the federal government in carrying out the purposes of the Social Security Act and in other matters of mutual concern pertaining to public welfare, public assistance, and child welfare services, including the making of reports, the adoption of methods of administration, and the making of rules as are found by the federal government, or any properly constituted authority thereunder, to be necessary or desirable for the efficient operation of the plans for public welfare, assistance, and child welfare services or as may be necessary or desirable for the receipt of financial assistance from the federal government;

     (9)  Carry on research and compile statistics relative to public and private welfare activities throughout the State, including those dealing with dependence, defectiveness, delinquency, self-sufficiency standard, and related problems;

    (10)  Develop plans in cooperation with other public and private agencies for the prevention and treatment of conditions giving rise to public welfare problems;

    (11)  Adopt rules governing the procedure in hearings, investigations, recording, registration, determination of allowances, and accounting and conduct other activities as may be necessary or proper to carry out this chapter;

    (12)  Supervise or administer any other activities authorized or required by this chapter, including the development of the staff of the department through in-service training and educational leave to attend schools and other appropriate measures, and any other activities placed under the jurisdiction of the department by any other law;

    (13)  Make, prescribe, and enforce policies and rules governing the activities provided for in section 346‑31 it deems advisable, including the allocation of moneys available for assistance to persons assigned to work projects among the several counties or to particular projects where the apportionment has not been made pursuant to other provisions of law, if any, governing expenditures of the funds;

    (14)  Determine the appropriate level for the Hawaii security net, by developing a tracking and monitoring system to determine what segments of the population are not able to afford the basic necessities of life, and advise the legislature annually regarding the resources required to maintain the security net at the appropriate level;

    (15)  Subject to the appropriation of state funds and availability of federal matching assistance, expand optional health care to low-income persons as follows:

         (A)  Pregnant women and infants under one year of age living in families with incomes up to one hundred eighty-five per cent of the federal poverty level and without any asset restrictions;

         (B)  Children under six years of age living in families with incomes up to one hundred thirty-three per cent of the federal poverty level and without any asset restrictions;

         (C)  Older children to the extent permitted under optional federal medicaid rules;

         (D)  Elder persons;

         (E)  Aliens;

         (F)  The homeless; and

         (G)  Other handicapped and medically needy persons; and

    (16)  Subject to the appropriation of state funds and availability of federal matching assistance, establish the income eligibility level for the medically needy program at one hundred thirty-three per cent of the assistance allowance."

     SECTION 5.  Section 346-53, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

     "(a)  This subsection [does] shall not apply to general assistance to households without minor dependents.  The standard of need shall equal the [poverty level established by the federal government in 2006,] self-sufficiency standard as established annually by the department of business, economic development, and tourism pursuant to section 201-3, prorated over a twelve-month period based on family size.

     The assistance allowance provided shall be based on a percentage of the standard of need.  For exempt households and households in which all caretaker relatives are minors, living independently with minor dependents and attending school, the assistance allowance shall be set no higher than sixty-two and one-half per cent and no lower than forty-four per cent of the standard of need.  For all other households, the assistance allowance shall be set no higher than sixty-two and one-half per cent of the standard of need and set no lower than thirty-four per cent of the standard of need.  The standard of need shall be determined by dividing the [2006 federal poverty level] self-sufficiency standard by twelve and rounding down the quotient.  The remaining quotient shall be multiplied by the per cent as set by the director by rules pursuant to chapter 91, and the final product shall be rounded down to determine the assistance allowance; provided that:

     (1)  The department may increase or reduce the assistance allowance as determined in this subsection for non-exempt households for the purpose of providing work incentives or services under part XI;

     (2)  No reduction shall be allowed that jeopardizes eligibility for or receipt of federal funds;

     (3)  Reductions in the assistance allowance shall be limited to no more than one per year; and

     (4)  No non-exempt household, which includes an adult who has received sixty cumulative months of temporary assistance to needy families with minor dependents, shall be eligible for an assistance allowance, unless authorized by federal regulations."

     SECTION 6.  The department of business, economic development, and tourism shall report to the legislature with the self-sufficiency standard no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2008, and annually thereafter.

     SECTION 7.  The department of human services shall report to the legislature on the number of persons exiting public assistance, food stamp, and medical assistance programs for work, utilizing the annually adjusted self-sufficiency standard no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the regular session of 2009, and annually thereafter.

     SECTION 8.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 9.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2007; provided that section 5 shall take effect on July 1, 2008.