HB1475 HD1

SECTION 1. The legislature recognizes that social security recipients who reside in institutional care settings receive a monthly personal allowance. Approximately four thousand individuals living in nursing-level of care institutional settings receive approximately $30 of monthly benefits to be used for individual needs. The needs allowance is intended to pay for clothing, toiletries, bus fare, personal postage costs, snacks, and other incidental expenses of day-to-day living.

An allowance has never been formally established or required for the approximately two thousand five hundred individuals living in adult residential care homes, licensed developmental disabilities domiciliary homes, community care foster family homes, certified adult foster homes, and other domiciliary care. However, the department of human services has informally recommended that care home operators also provide $30 per month for the residents' personal needs.

In 1974, the federal government established the minimum needs allowance for a nursing home resident at $25, which was subsequently raised in 1988 to $30, the current monthly allowance. In 2004, only eleven states' monthly allowance remained at $30, while other states raised the minimum monthly allowance. If the needs allowance was pegged to the Consumer Price Index, $25 in 1974 would have been equivalent to $115.19 in 2004.

The legislature finds that it is imperative that the minimum monthly allowance be increased to allow institutional long-term care residents to enjoy an acceptable quality of life.

The purpose of this Act is to establish a personal allowance for individuals residing in care homes, nursing homes, and other long-term care facilities.

SECTION 2. Chapter 346D, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§346D- Personal allowance; waiver program. (a) There is established a monthly needs allowance for individuals living in qualified facilities. The needs allowance shall be administered by the department of human services to pay for clothing and other miscellaneous personal needs such as bus fare, personal postage costs, haircuts, and other costs of day-to-day living.

(b) The needs allowance shall be $50 per month per individual, and shall be increased annually by a percentage equal to any percentage increase in the social security income benefit.

(c) The needs allowance is not intended to replace or affect the funds received from the federal supplemental security income program, and shall be supplemental to any funds provided to a recipient by the federal supplemental security income program.

(d) The operators of adult residential care homes type I and type II, developmental disabilities domiciliary homes, community care foster family homes, adult foster homes, and other domiciliary care facilities, shall pay for generic toiletries (including toilet paper, hand soap, and paper towels), linens (including bedding, sheets, blankets, towels, and bath rugs), and meals and snacks for outings.

(e) The needs allowance shall apply to persons otherwise eligible to receive monthly income pursuant to state laws or rules and federal laws or regulations, and is not intended to affect the classifications of or number of persons eligible to receive such funds.

(f) The department shall perform an annual review of the monthly needs allowance to ensure it provides adequate coverage and shall report annually to the legislature beginning no later than twenty days prior to the regular session of 2008 with and suggestions for corrections or improvements to the monthly needs allowance, including any proposed legislation.

(g) For the purposes of this section, "qualified facility" means adult residential care home type I and type II facilities, developmental disabilities domiciliary homes as defined under section 321-15.9, community care foster family homes as defined under section 346-331, adult foster homes as defined under section 321-11.2, domiciliary care residences and facilities as defined under section 346-1, nursing facilities as defined under section 346E-1, and for individuals served by the residential alternatives community care program."

SECTION 3. Section 235-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) There shall be excluded from gross income, adjusted gross income, and taxable income:

(1) Income not subject to taxation by the State under the Constitution and laws of the United States;

(2) Rights, benefits, and other income exempted from taxation by section 88-91, having to do with the state retirement system, and the rights, benefits, and other income, comparable to the rights, benefits, and other income exempted by section 88-91, under any other public retirement system;

(3) Any compensation received in the form of a pension for past services;

(4) Compensation paid to a patient affected with Hansen's disease employed by the State or the United States in any hospital, settlement, or place for the treatment of Hansen's disease;

(5) Except as otherwise expressly provided, payments made by the United States or this State, under an act of Congress or a law of this State, which by express provision or administrative regulation or interpretation are exempt from both the normal and surtaxes of the United States, even though not so exempted by the Internal Revenue Code itself;

(6) Any income expressly exempted or excluded from the measure of the tax imposed by this chapter by any other law of the State, it being the intent of this chapter not to repeal or supersede any such express exemption or exclusion;

(7) Income received by each member of the reserve components of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard of the United States of America, and the Hawaii national guard as compensation for performance of duty, equivalent to pay received for forty-eight drills (equivalent of twelve weekends) and fifteen days of annual duty, at an:

(A) E-1 pay grade after eight years of service; provided that this subparagraph shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2004;

(B) E-2 pay grade after eight years of service; provided that this subparagraph shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2005;

(C) E-3 pay grade after eight years of service; provided that this subparagraph shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2006;

(D) E-4 pay grade after eight years of service; provided that this subparagraph shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2007; and

(E) E-5 pay grade after eight years of service; provided that this subparagraph shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2008;

(8) Income derived from the operation of ships or aircraft if the income is exempt under the Internal Revenue Code pursuant to the provisions of an income tax treaty or agreement entered into by and between the United States and a foreign country, provided that the tax laws of the local governments of that country reciprocally exempt from the application of all of their net income taxes, the income derived from the operation of ships or aircraft that are documented or registered under the laws of the United States;

(9) The value of legal services provided by a prepaid legal service plan to a taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, and the taxpayer's dependents;

(10) Amounts paid, directly or indirectly, by a prepaid legal service plan to a taxpayer as payment or reimbursement for the provision of legal services to the taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, and the taxpayer's dependents;

(11) Contributions by an employer to a prepaid legal service plan for compensation (through insurance or otherwise) to the employer's employees for the costs of legal services incurred by the employer's employees, their spouses, and their dependents; [~~and~~]

(12) Amounts received in the form of a monthly surcharge by a utility acting on behalf of an affected utility under section 269-16.3 shall not be gross income, adjusted gross income, or taxable income for the acting utility under this chapter. Any amounts retained by the acting utility for collection or other costs shall not be included in this exemption[.];

(13) Amounts received in the form of a monthly needs allowance under section 346D- received:

(A) Indirectly by the operator of a qualified facility on behalf of an individual resident of the qualified facility; or

(B) Directly by an individual resident of a qualified facility; and

(14) Amounts received in the form of a monthly needs allowance received indirectly by the operator of a qualified facility on behalf of an individual resident of the qualified facility, as provided in section 346D- ."

SECTION 4. Section 237-24.75, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§237-24.75[]] Additional exemptions. In addition to the amounts exempt under section 237-24, this chapter shall not apply to amounts received [as]:

(1) As a beverage container deposit collected under chapter 342G, part VIII[.]; and

(2) In the form of a monthly needs allowance received indirectly by a facility operator on behalf of an individual resident of a qualified facility, as provided in section 346D- ."

SECTION 5. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2007-2008 to provide a monthly personal allowance for individuals living in adult residential care home type I and type II facilities, developmental disabilities domiciliary homes as defined under section 321-15.9, community care foster family homes as defined under section 346-331, adult foster homes as defined under section 321-11.2, domiciliary care residences and facilities as defined under section 346-1, nursing facilities as defined under section 346E-1, and for individuals served by the residential alternatives community care program.

The sum appropriated shall be expended by the department of human services for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 6. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 7. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2007.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1475
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2007		H.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII