STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1356

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 547

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Human Services and Labor and Technology, to which was referred H.B. No. 547, H.D. 1, entitled:

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

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Require the Department of Human Services to establish and implement a two-year Infant and Toddler Child Care Worker Subsidy Pilot Program to retain the existing early child care workforce in licensed infant and toddler child care center settings; and

(2) Appropriate funds for the Pilot Program.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Executive Office on Early Learning; Early Learning Board; Hawai‘i State Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Holomua Collaborative; Early Childhood Action Strategy; Hawai‘i Children’s Action Network Speaks!; Rainbow Family 808; Stepping Stones Academy; Tori Richard, Ltd.; Parents and Children Together; aio, LLC; Malama Kaua‘i; American Association of University Women of Hawaii; HPM Building Supply; Little Hoku Montessori Academy; Hawai‘i Gas; Title Guaranty of Hawai‘i; and twenty-six individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Human Services and Department of the Attorney General.

Your Committees find that a strong child care and early education workforce is essential to support Hawaii's children, working families, and communities. Your Committees also find that despite working in a specialized field with health, safety, and educational requirements more stringent than the average American worker, compensation for many early childhood care and education providers remain at the second or third percentile in the United States Bureau of Labor and Statistics' rankings of occupation, making their pay comparable to parking attendants, bartenders, and laundry workers. Your Committees further find that the State is having an increasingly difficult time recruiting and retaining infant and toddler child care workers, which has been exacerbated by the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. This measure improves compensation for infant and toddler child care workers in the State to ensure retention of the existing early child care workforce in licensed infant and toddler child care center settings.

Your Committees note that although this measure contains an unspecified appropriation amount, should your Committee on Ways and Means choose to deliberate on this measure, your Committees respectfully request that it consider appropriating $6,336,000 for the Infant and Toddler Child Care Worker Subsidy Pilot Program.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting an effective date of December 31, 2023; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Human Services and Labor and Technology that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 547, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 547, 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 Committees on Health and Human Services and Labor and Technology,

________________________________ SHARON MORIWAKI, Chair

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair