STAND. COM. REP. NO. 205

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 894

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 Government Operations and Health and Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 894 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE OFFICE OF WELLNESS AND RESILIENCE,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

(1) Transfer the Office of Wellness and Resilience from the Office of the Governor to the Department of Human Services on July 1, 2025;

(2) Extend the Trauma-Informed Care Task Force dissolution date to June 30, 2025, and establish the task force as an advisory board to the Office of Wellness and Resilience until its dissolution; and

(3) Reconstitute the membership of the Trauma-Informed Care Task Force into a permanent advisory board to the Office of Wellness and Resilience to be called the Wellness and Resilience Advisory Board.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Wellness and Resilience, Department of Public Safety, Executive Office on Early Learning, Hawai‘i Children's Action Network Speaks!, HawaiiKidsCAN, Hawai‘i Youth Services Network, Hawai‘i Primary Care Association, Hawai‘i Community Foundation, EPIC ‘Ohana, and one individual. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Health.

Your Committees find that the Trauma-Informed Care Task Force established in 2021 focuses on efforts to create and adopt a statewide framework for trauma-informed and responsive practices, identifying best practices, and identifying cultural practices to help build wellness and resilience. Your Committees further find that Act 291, Session Laws of Hawaii, established the Office of Wellness and Resilience, the first in the nation, to be temporarily placed in the office of the Governor. This agency is tasked with assisting those who have experienced childhood trauma and other mental health issues. Your Committees recognize the need and long-term commitment to help children and families avoid adverse childhood experiences and provide comprehensive, coordinated, culturally sensitive services to survivors of trauma. Therefore, this measure establishes the Office of Wellness and Resilience permanently within the Department of Human Services and ensures that the Trauma-Informed Care Task Force will continue its important work in an advisory capacity.

Your Committees have amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2112, to encourage further discussion.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Government Operations and Health and Human Services that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 894, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 894, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Government Operations and Health and Human Services,

________________________________ JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair

________________________________ ANGUS L.K. MCKELVEY, Chair