STAND. COM. REP. NO.  946

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2015

RE:   S.B. No. 1107

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1107 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT MAKING AN EMERGENCY APPROPRIATION FOR GENERAL ASSISTANCE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to provide an emergency appropriation of $2,514,822 to the Department of Human Services for the General Assistance Program to address budgetary shortfalls in order to maintain monthly maximum general assistance payments for clients.

     Pursuant to requirements set forth in Article VII, Section 9, of the Hawaii State Constitution, the Governor, in Governor's Message No. 171 to the Legislature, requested immediate consideration and passage of this bill by the Legislature.

The Department of Human Services, Catholic Charities Hawaii, PHOCUSED, and Hawaii Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice supported this measure.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the amount appropriated for general assistance payments to an unspecified amount to encourage further discussion.
     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 S.B. No. 1107, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1107, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

____________________________

DEE MORIKAWA, Chair