STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2149

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2917

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Human Services and Public Housing, to which was referred S.B. No. 2917 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE COMPACT OF FREE ASSOCIATION,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to request the Compact of Free Association Task Force (Task Force), established pursuant to House Resolution No. 94, H.D. 1, 2007, to include in its final report to the 2009 Legislature a recommendation for a pilot program for delivery of medical, educational, housing and social services for the migrants from the Freely Associated States.

     The Department of Health submitted testimony stating that this measure is unnecessary.

     Your Committees find that the Task Force is expected to report on its findings and recommendations within the next week.  It is the intent of your Committees to pass this measure in its present form, recognizing that it may be amended in subsequent committees in order to implement Task Force recommendations.

     Regarding the report, your Committees are particularly interested in any Task Force recommendations on how to increase the level of federal funding in Hawai‘i, which currently is a small fraction of the costs of providing services to immigrants from the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.

     Your Committees note that the current federal funding level is approximately $10,000,000 annually, yet the services the State must provide to meet the intent of the Compact of Free Association is in excess of $90,000,000.  Your Committees look forward to any recommendations that may resolve this critical fiscal concern.

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Human Services and Public Housing that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2917 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Transportation and International Affairs and Human Services and Public Housing,

____________________________ SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair

____________________________ J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair