STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3307

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2309

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Health and Human Services, to which was referred H.B. No. 2309, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HOMELESSNESS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to appropriate funds to implement a Homeless Triage Center Program within the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division of the Department of Health.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division of the Department of Health; State Health Planning and Development Agency; Partners In Care; The Institute for Human Services, Inc.; Hawaii Substance Abuse Coalition; ACLU Hawaiʻi; and one individual.

Your Committee finds that the State is ranked fourth in the United States for chronic homelessness. According to the 2023 Point-in-Time count, approximately thirty percent of individuals and families experiencing homelessness, whether sheltered or not, reported a substance use problem, and forty percent have reported a mental illness. Your Committee further finds that triage is recognized as an evidence-based practice to end the cycle of homelessness and provides assessment of a person's disorders, need for medication-assisted detoxification, and timely psychiatric treatment. As triage centers are easily accessible, mobile, and judgment-free health care centers, this measure establishes a Homeless Triage Center Program to provide readily accessible, safe, and secure health care services to individuals who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

Your Committee notes that there are a variety of providers who offer homeless triage services to communities statewide. However, the current language of this measure does not accurately reflect the broad range of services offered by providers of homeless triage and the unique needs of each community. Therefore, amendments are needed to broaden the scope of work done by various providers statewide to address health care services for individuals who are homeless.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Inserting language to clarify that the purpose of this measure is to support existing crisis intervention centers;

(2) Clarifying that the Homeless Triage Center Program shall focus on serving individuals who are at risk of homelessness, in addition to individuals who are homeless;

(3) Deleting language that would have required the Homeless Triage Center Program to operate twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week;

(4) Clarifying that the Homeless Triage Center Program shall provide mobile outreach in addition to case management services;

(5) Deleting certain legislative findings that singularly summarized the Homeless Triage Center piloted by the Institute for Human Services, as your Committee recognizes many other similar resources provided by the State and its counties;

(6) Amending Section 1 to reflect its amended purpose;

(7) Inserting an effective date of December 31, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(8) 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 H.B. No. 2309, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2309, 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 Health and Human Services,

________________________________

JOY A. SAN BUENAVENTURA, Chair