STAND. COM. REP. NO. 345-22

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2022

RE: H.B. No. 1582

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness, to which was referred H.B. No. 1582 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CHILD CARE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require child care providers, including persons who are otherwise exempt from the State's child care laws, licensed child care providers, and employees of licensed child care providers, to provide certain information to the Department of Human Services each year.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Hawaii Children's Action Network Speaks!. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services and Executive Office on Early Learning.

Your Committee finds that the Department of Human Services' Early Childhood Registry is optional for family child care providers. Since the registry does not collect information from all child care providers, the State lacks the data necessary to understand its child care workforce. This in turn hinders the ability to create strategic policy to address the critical child care provider workforce shortage. Your Committee further finds that making the Early Childhood Registry required for a greater share of child care providers and requiring information to be updated annually will provide more robust information necessary for the implementation of programs and services that impact young children and their adult caregivers.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Changing the effective date to July 1, 2060, to encourage further discussion; and

(2) 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 Health, Human Services, & Homelessness that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1582, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1582, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health, Human Services, & Homelessness,

____________________________

RYAN I. YAMANE, Chair