STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3059

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2482

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 Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2482 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WELLNESS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish the Office of Wellness and Resilience within the Office of the Governor to address and improve trauma-informed care within the State.

Your Committee received written comments in support of this measure from the Executive Office on Early Learning; Department of Human Services; Waimanalo Elementary and Intermediate School; Department of Health; Department of Public Safety; Hawaii Youth Services Network; Hawaii Children's Action Network Speaks!; Early Childhood Action Strategy; Maui Family Support Services, Inc.; Kamehameha Schools; HawaiiKidsCAN; Early Learning Board; Hawaii Community Foundation; Imua Family Services; Association for Infant Mental Health Hawaii; Rainbow Schools; Chaminade University; Bizgenics; and twenty individuals.

Your Committee received written comments in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee received written comments on this measure from the Department of Budget and Finance.

Your Committee finds that traumatic experiences, especially in childhood, can have a lifelong impact on health, learning, and even brain development. Your Committee further finds that the office established by this measure is the best entity to lead the creation and adoption of a statewide framework for trauma-informed and responsive practices, which among other things, will help to coordinate the various agencies that have individually taken steps toward improving trauma-informed care.

Your Committee notes that the Department of Health has requested that the Executive Director of the Office of Wellness and Resilience possess the necessary qualifications to lead the office and has expressed a willingness to assist in determining those prerequisites.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that the placement of the Office of Wellness and Resilience within the Office of the Governor shall be for special purposes to comply with Article V, section 6, of the Hawaii State Constitution; and

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

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. 2482, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2482, S.D. 1.

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

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DONOVAN M. DELA CRUZ, Chair