STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1622

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    H.C.R. No. 208

       H.D. 1

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs, to which was referred H.C.R. No. 208, H.D. 1, entitled:

"HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION STRONGLY URGING THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS AND THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR TO RESTORE FEDERAL HEALTHCARE FUNDING FOR U.S. RESIDENTS PRESENT UNDER THE COMPACTS OF FREE ASSOCIATION, IN RECOGNITION OF THEIR UNIQUE HISTORIC AND ONGOING SACRIFICES AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND TO THE WORLD,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Urge the United States Congress and United States Department of the Interior to restore federal healthcare funding for United States residents present under the Compacts of Free Association, in recognition of their unique historic and ongoing sacrifices and contributions to the United States of America and to the world;

     (2)  Urge the United States Department of the Interior Office of Insular Affairs to review the funding of the Compact Impact Assistance grant and to make every effort to increase the amount of direct assistance available to Hawaii; and

     (3)  Urge the United States Congress to support federal legislation to amend the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to render Compact of Free Association migrants eligible to receive federally funded financial and medical assistance.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO and Hawai‘i Primary Care Association.

     Your Committee finds that the Freely Associated States of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia were former Trust Territories of the United States and, as sovereign nations, continue to place their trust in the United States through the Compacts of Free Association.  Citing fiscal concerns, Hawaii has discontinued Med-QUEST eligibility for most indigent Compact of Free Association residents, requiring that they instead enroll in a health insurance plan through the Hawaii Health Connector.  The relatively high cost of maintaining such health insurance plans will likely make healthcare coverage unaffordable to the most indigent members of our community.  Justice, fairness, human decency, and sound national policy demand equal access to federal healthcare safety net funding for all United States residents and taxpayers present under the Compacts of Free Association.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.C.R. No. 208, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends its adoption in the form attached hereto as H.C.R. No. 208, H.D. 1, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs,

________________________________

WILL ESPERO, Chair