STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2759

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 3034

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 3034, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII CHILD WELFARE EDUCATION COLLABORATION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate $353,176 for the restoration of the Hawaii Child Welfare Education Collaboration between the Child Welfare Services Branch of the Department of Human Services and the University of Hawaii Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work.

     The University of Hawaii System, the National Association of Social Workers, and three individuals submitted written comments in support of the measure.  The Department of Human Services submitted written comments.

     Your Committee finds that, in the coming years, the Department of Human Services will face a critical shortage of experienced child welfare services workers and leaders.  Your Committee also finds that the Hawaii Child Welfare Education Collaboration, which existed between 1998 and 2008, was a successful workforce recruitment and training program that provided a continuous stream of qualified social workers to fill vacant child welfare services positions.  Your Committee believes that by restoring the Hawaii Child Welfare Education Collaboration, this measure will help build a workforce of highly qualified social workers who will increase the level of child welfare services in Hawaii and improve outcomes for Hawaii's most vulnerable children.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Changing the appropriation to an unspecified sum;

     (2)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to facilitate further discussion on the measure; and

     (3)  Making technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 3034, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 3034, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair