STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3337

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 1945

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 1945, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE NEIGHBOR ISLANDS BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED SERVICE PILOT PROGRAM,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to require the Department of Human Services to establish a Neighbor Islands Blind and Visually Impaired Service Pilot Program that supplements existing statewide services by providing training and other services to neighbor island residents who are blind or visually impaired.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Executive Office on Aging, Disability and Communication Access Board, Hawaii State Committee of Blind Vendors, Hawaii Disability Rights Center, Hawaii Association of the Blind, National Federation of the Blind of Hawaii, and nine individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services and Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committee finds that approximately two thousand neighbor island residents who are blind or visually impaired do not have access to or are ineligible for existing state and local support services, including training, adjustments to blindness services, and transportation. The Neighbor Islands Blind and Visually Impaired Service Pilot Program to be established pursuant to this measure will supplement existing statewide services and enable these individuals to receive the necessary training and other services that would enable them to have full and integrated lives in their existing communities.

Your Committee acknowledges that this measure requires Department of Human Services to identify and secure other sources of funding, including federal funding, to provide matching funds for the pilot program. Your Committee notes the testimony of the Department of Human Services, stating that it will be difficult to secure federal funding for the pilot project since existing federal funding is already allocated to services currently provided by the Department's Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services for the Blind Branch.

Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting the requirement that the Department of Human Services identify and secure other sources of funding, including federal funding, to provide for matching funds for the Neighbor Islands Blind and Visually Impaired Service Pilot Program;

(2) Defining "neighbor island"; and

(3) 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 Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1945, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1945, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

________________________________

JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair