STAND. COM. REP. NO. 64

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 295

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 295 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE CHILD WELFARE SERVICES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to improve the State's child welfare system by:

(1) Establishing within the Office of Wellness and Resilience, the Malama Ohana Working Group to seek, design, and recommend transformative changes to the State's existing child welfare system;

(2) Authorizing the Office of Wellness and Resilience to contract with an administrative facilitator to provide necessary support for the Malama Ohana Working Group in carrying out its duties;

(3) Requiring the Malama Ohana Working Group to report to the Legislature prior to the Regular Session of 2025, and be dissolved upon adjournment sine die thereof; and

(4) Appropriating $250,000 for the Malama Ohana Working Group, including funding for the Office of Wellness and Resilience to contract with an administrative facilitator to provide necessary support for the working group in carrying out its duties.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Human Services; Office of Wellness and Resilience; Hawaii Coalition for Child Protective Reform; Catholic Charities Hawai‘i; Hawai‘i Children's Action Network (HCAN) Speaks!; Family Programs Hawaii; Epic ‘Ohana, Inc.; Hale Kipa; Hawaii Family Advocacy Group; Hawai‘i State Coalition Against Domestic Violence; and nine individuals. Your Committee received comments on this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that there is a strong desire in the community to address the long-standing shortcomings of Hawaii's child welfare system that have been accentuated by the disappearance of six-year-old Isabella Kalua, also known as Ariel Sellers, at her home in Waimanalo and further exacerbated by the effects of coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Your Committee further finds that the problems faced by children and families in the State's child welfare system are extremely complex and cannot be resolved by the Department of Human Services alone. To address and resolve these diverse and multi-faceted problems, the State must work with the community and various stakeholders to determine where the core child welfare infrastructure is failing. This measure establishes a working group comprised of various members of the community and stakeholders to develop recommendations to establish a child welfare system that is trauma informed, sustains a community-based partnership, and is responsive to the needs of children and families in the system and the community.

Your Committee requests that your Committee on Ways and Means consider an appropriation amount of $250,000 for the Malama Ohana Working Group established pursuant to this measure, including funding for the Office of Wellness and Resilience to contract with an administrative facilitator to provide necessary support for the working group in carrying out its duties.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting a blank appropriation amount;

(2) Inserting an effective date of December 31, 2050, to encourage further discussion; 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 Health and Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 295, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 295, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

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

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JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair