HB2258 SD1 SSCR3097

 

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3097

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2258

H.D. 1

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 H.B. No. 2258, H.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 promote accountability and openness in government with respect to the expenditure of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program funds, by requiring these funds to be expended by legislative appropriation.

Your Committee finds that this measure will ensure that the Legislature is informed of how TANF funds are expended and what the intended objectives of the expenditures are, and updated regarding the effectiveness and level of success in achieving the desired outcomes.

Your Committee received testimony in support of the measure from the Department of Human Services, Blueprint for Change, the National Association of Social Workers, the Welfare and Employment Rights Coalition, and one individual. The Department of Budget and Finance submitted testimony in opposition to this measure.

Your Committee also heard testimony explaining that the measure's legislative appropriation requirement could have the unintended consequence of limiting the State's ability to receive federal funds in addition to the annual TANF Block Grant funds if they become available when the Legislature is not in session.

Your Committee is aware that the Department of Human Services has implemented a statewide TANF strategic planning process to consider the ramifications of the changes in the federal TANF Reauthorization that was enacted in February 2006.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Adding a provision requiring the Department of Human Services, with the assistance of the financial assistance advisory council, to involve the community in the strategic planning process to plan for future use of TANF funds and to set annual goals and outcomes for existing and new programs receiving TANF funds;

(2) Requiring the Department to submit an annual report to the legislature no later than twenty days prior to the beginning of each regular legislative session;

(3) Revising the legislative appropriation requirement so that it applies only to annual TANF Block Grant funds;

(4) Adding a collaborative planning element to the requirement that the Department of Human Services submit a plan detailing how TANF funds should be used and the desired outcomes from the expenditures of the funds; and

(5) Making 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 is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2258, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2258, H.D. 1, 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